How to Train Your Animatronic
by PivotAwesome23
Summary: Mike secretly befriends one of the animatronics. He at first thought nothing would happen, but his little secret was about to become a huge problem.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: This is my job**

* * *

_POV - Anonymous_

It's nighttime. Everything looks peaceful around a small city, only the flickering lights of the streetlights and the dull yellow glow of the lights inside the houses that come out of the windows are seen. The only problem here is one of the most famous restaurants around this city, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Inside that facility, which many people refer as 'cursed place', is the only place you don't want to be at night. But certain people have to.

_POV – Mike_

"**This, is my work place, ****Freddy**** Fazbear's Pizza. It's located in a rather small city, but I prefer to say that it's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death, and that it's located solidly in the Meridian of Misery. **

**The building… in a word? Old. It's been here for twenty years but not a single thing is new. We here have cooking, playing, oh, and charming views to the sunsets even. The only problems are the… **_**problems**_**. You see, most restaurants have mice, or mosquitoes as problems. We have…"**

It happened again.

I rush towards the main door, my legs trembling, my arms shaking. I reach out to the knob and open the door, only to be greeted by a dark purple, hulking figure in the shadows of the outside that stops various feet away from the door, chasing a group of men. I close the door shut with my back before that _thing _can see me.

"Animatronics…!" I mutter to myself, my eyes open wide.

Yes, as you hear it. These animatronics, who brought the fame to this place, are alive, and most of all, crazy. I open the door again in hopes that the animatronic I just saw left. It did, but there's more than just one. Five, to be exact, and they're all around the place. If you didn't know, the exterior of the restaurant is full of 'cottages' belonging to the owner and various other things. I look around. Yeah, as always, the scene outside is a chaos. Well, not always. The animatronics don't usually go outside, but when they do it's kinda… harder to control them. I'll tell you why.

Another animatronic that I cannot see properly smashes right through one of these small wooden houses to begin with.

They do that a lot. I don't know why though, I guess they like causing trouble and destruction wherever they go.

Not far away from that I see a man being chased by something that, as I can barely see, has rabbit ears, so I'm guessing it's Bonnie. Right next to the pursuit another man is clutching to the back of one of the animatronics I mostly hate, Chica. I can distinguish her because she's only a few feet away from the main door. She bites the guy's sleeve and throws him away with a mad glare.

"**Most people would leave. Not us, we're people that work in this place. And so, we have… stubbornness issues."**

I jump off the steps and look around everywhere, just to make sure I don't run right into one of those things. Many things are burning right now, and I can barely see what's in front of me. Too much smoke. I really don't understand how people cannot notice all this mess we have just one or two of the every five nights me and the other night guards work here each week.

"**My name's Mike. Great name I know, but having in mind the names of the rest of watchmen, it's fairly the coolest one, if I do say so myself."**

One of the night guards lands right in front of me, so close I almost stumble on him. With a harsh stop, I lean to the other way so I can pass. As the man is standing up, a sharpened stick lands next to him, the peak getting stuck in the ground as the guy shakes his head. He grabs the weapon and runs to the fight with a furious scream. Two guys carrying a wooden post get in my way. Without stopping, I duck down the thick pole.

_Thomp!_

I hear a loud echoing sound that makes me turn around.

Oops.

I accidentally made a third guy hit the pole. Or at least I think so, one of the guards is lying on the ground right below the pole. I look with a face full of guiltiness at the fallen guy when something hits me on my left shoulder. The rest of the men are running right past me. I try to avoid crashing into them and continue my way.

I don't think they want to stop running right now, you know.

An explosion right in front of me knocks me off my feet. One of the animatronics must've hit something explode-able that was inside one of the cottages. Yeah, it's amazing how many dangerous things we have around here, huh?

"**I think our charming demeanor should be more than enough to fight these things, really."**

A man gets in front of me, and shouts a demented battle cry at my face, his axe lifted up in the air. I start to wonder where he got an axe from… Well, at this point, and after all I've seen since I've been working here, it doesn't really surprise me.

"Mornin'!" the guy says in a sudden cheery tone now, mixed up with a smile, as he runs towards the battle, letting me stand up. I run through a walkway, many other guards passing by my side and all of them carrying pistols, knives, barrels and such.

"What're you doing here?" one of them shouts at me.

"Get inside!" another says with disbelief, just as he hated me.

"What're you doing out?"

"Get back inside!"

Really, why can't I go around without these guys yelling at me to get back inside?

I run past a night guard that fell asleep, resting on the railings. I run backwards, looking at him in confusion. Why shouldn't I? This is the first night guard I see that fell asleep during an outside attack. As I turn around again so I don't crash into anything or anyone I see myself staring at a black figure about ten meters away from me.

"Mike!" an angry voice yells. Whatever was there before me leaves as this booming voice sounds all over. I feel a hand grabbing me from the back of my outfit and being lifted up with fury.

"What is he doing out agai-" the man that grabbed me yells, his hand pointing at me. "What are you doing out? Get inside!"

The man shoves me forwards, but I turn around and keep looking at him.

"**That's Jack. Owner of the restaurant."**

Jack is a tall and basically vast man. His short, red hair and flowing beard highlight from the others. That color is bright and pure, and there are no more redheads around here. His furious green eyes full of pride tell anyone who looks at them that he is strong and he has reasons to be in charge of everything.

Jack looks around him, his eyes narrowed menacingly. His gaze comes across Chica, who's flying various meters above him.

"**They say when he was younger he fought off one of the animatronics and won."**

Almost effortlessly, he picks up a big, wooden cart, something I could never do no matter how hard I tried.

I mean, I'm not weak, but I could never grab such thing with no single effort like Jack did.

He brings the cart above his head and, with an angry grunt, throws it to the hovering animatronic. The wooden carriage shatters into lots and lots of pieces as it hits harshly Chica's body, making her almost fall. She hisses, and flies way. Jack does that thing he always does with his shoulders, like nodding triumphantly with them, and turns to one of the night guards behind him.

"**Do I believe it? Yes I do."**

"Are all of them out?" He asks, his voice sounding worried, but at the same time, it has got a calm, proud and secure tone.

"Yes, sir. They're all out as far as I know." The guard replies frantically. Something explodes next to them, making the man crouch and cover himself with both arms.

"Anyone saw _that_ one?" Jack asks again, spreading the word like it was something too horrible to speak of.

"Not so far." The scared guard answers.

A piece of flaming shrapnel, coming from the explosion, lands on his shoulder. Jack brushes it off easily, muttering, "Good."

I jump off the stairs at the end of the walkway as I run past various workers lighting torches, which illuminate the surroundings, and placing them into special slots in the walls made for them. Everything is too dark around here and so we're going to need a lot of light if we want to stay alive. I make my way towards the blacksmith stall.

Yes, we even have a blacksmith here. What did you think?

There's almost nothing normal around of the restaurant, so don't think it's something weird. In fact, I've _never _seen anything normal here at night.

I run past the blacksmith hurriedly.

"Oh nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been caught!" he says as he bangs his hammer on his hand appendage against a burning metal wire. I turn around and put my hands behind my back innocently.

"W- who, me? Nah, come on." I say as I turn to the wall full of weapons and pick up a heavy axe. I place it on its respective spot. "I'm waaay too muscular for them. They wouldn't know what to do with all… this."

I flex my non-existent biceps as I grin, walking towards the window to get the other guys' weapons, and things, and all that.

"Oh, they'll need toothpicks, don't they?" The blacksmith teases as he always does, taking that big hammer off his hand appendage and putting a smaller one instead. I open the two-sided wooden door that opens the window and the guys outside give me their weapons with inpatient looks on their faces.

"**The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Larry. He's been teaching me things about this job ever since I first came here."**

Larry is a blond guy. His hair is very short but it still arrives to the back of his neck. His reliant blue eyes full of knowledge always give me a feeling of being protected even if he's always joking around. I have a high respect for Larry. He's been once attacked by the animatronics in my fourth night in this site, while he was giving me his instructions, and for that he lost a hand and a leg, but fortunately lived to tell the tale. I've been attacked too, but it wasn't _that _serious. He's a man that you really should respect if you're working around here.

Thing that I don't recommend either way.

_POV – Annonymous_

"We'll move to the lower defenses, counter attack with the bola-launchers." Jack orders a few workers before proceeding to run towards said weapons. As they're running down the walkway, an animatronic known as Foxy smashes right through a small, wooden cottage, making it explode as there was something explode-able inside.

_POV – Mike_

I notice one of the cottages is burning. How not…

"**See? Old restaurant, more and more broken things."**

"Fire!" a guard screams, almost with insanity, to give the alarm.

"Alright guys, let's go!" a female voice calls from the distance. It's a voice I recognize, a voice that makes me look out the window. Inside a cloud of smoke I see various guys with buckets on their hands near the burning cottage.

"**Oh and that's Eric, James, the twins, Jacob and Jasmine, and…"**

The last teen empties elegantly her bucket towards the fire, and the house explodes again. I'm pretty sure it's because there was more than just one explode-able thing there. The girl walks like nothing's happening as the fire erupts behind her. Her smile and her secure, shiny blue eyes produce a happy feeling as I look at them. Her long, blond hair tied in a precious ponytail in the back of her head dances and waves before her face as she turns around, leaving the fire behind.

"…**Astrid…"**

Astrid is the most beautiful girls ever to work here, and I feel like the luckiest person around the staff. She is just… beautiful. She's perfect. Astrid is, along with the other guys, what we like to call a night helper. Astrid is also a waiter during the day and she does her work perfectly. She never arrives late and is always secure of herself. But there's a thing that I mostly admire about Astrid; she's not afraid of the animatronics like we all are. She never really fought one, but she usually helps if one of them has gone too far. And she does it with no fear, with no nerves. It's amazing.

The rest of the helpers follow her, but none of them walks with the passion Astrid does. They all run past my window. I try to dissimulate doing an important work so they don't mock me -as I never get to go outside when this kind of thing happens- before leaning out the window to see them running towards wherever the rest of guards and workers need them.

"**Oh their job is so much cooler…"**

My arm involuntarily gets out of the wooden frame. My body is telling me, begging me to go out there with the rest. I'm about to do so when…

"Eh!" Larry yells as he grabs the back of my shirt with his hand… thing. I really don't know what he has put on it right now, I can't recognize it. He turns around and slowly walks inside, dragging me with him.

"Oh come on, let me out please, I need to make my mark!" I try to convince him. It's not like that was the best way to do it, but I have to try. Larry carefully puts me down.

"Oh, you've made _plenty _of marks. All in the wrong places." He points out, giving me a prod with his hand-thing. He sends me backwards a few feet.

"Please, two minutes." I insist. "I'll fight one of those things, my life will get _infinitely _better!"

Of course it would. My happiness would grow and grow as I give these monsters a lesson for everything they did to me all these past months and that they'll very much will continue to do.

"I might even get a date." I add with an annoyed tone in my voice.

"You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing a sword…" Larry starts counting as if I didn't know how to do the important things everyone does here. "You can't even throw one of these!" he yells as he picks up a bola, which is a strong rope with iron balls attached to its ends. From outside the open window, a man snatches it out and runs away, spinning the rope as he does so. With a grunt, he throws it to the animatronic in front of him, Bonnie. The bola scores a direct hit and sends the animatronic to the ground, as it was standing on the ceiling of a small cottage.

"Fine, but this-" my words get momentarily cut off as I hear the noise of Bonnie falling to the ground. I back up and stand next to my wonderful machine, a bola-launcher I made all by myself. "Will throw it for me." I finish as I gently pat the machine. It makes a rusty squeal as I feel it slightly shaking. The machine comes to life and shoots a bola at Gobber, who quickly leans out of the way. The rope flies out the window and hits a man outside in the head. The guy lets out a pained grunt as he falls backwards.

Hey, not my fault.

* * *

**A/N**

**So well, HTTYD is my favorite movie, and I had this little idea ever since I started to like FNaF. I made some slight changes to some of the animatronics so they fit a little bit better in this story. For example, Chica has got bird-like wings instead of hands, and I made her so she can fly. I also made slight changes in the animatronic that will replace Toothless, but of course I can't tell you which changes are those as I would have to reveal which animatronic is replacing Toothless. So I'll leave that for the next chapter. This story might be a little bit hard to make, but I have to try. The character's names have also been replaced and they don't have that Viking-like appareance. They are:**

_**Hiccup - Mike**_

_**Stoick - Jack**_

_**Gobber - Larry**_

_**Ruffnut, Tuffnut - Jacob, Jasmine**_

_**Snoulout - James**_

_**Fishlegs - Eric**_

**Feel free to review so I can know what do you think about this idea and that if I should continue it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: I hit it**

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_POV – Mike_

Gobber turns to me in a slightly abrupt way, his eyes narrowed.

"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about!" he yells as he comes closer to me. I don't know what made the bola-launcher spring up to life like that, so I must find an excuse. But that will be actually hard, Larry almost never believes any of my excuses.

"But- but- a- m- mild calibration issue-"

"No, Mike." He cuts me off. "If you ever want to go out there, to fight the animatronics, you need to stop all… this." He points at me with both arms.

Like he always does.

Like _everyone_ does.

"Buy you just pointed to all of me." I say, frowning.

"Yes, that's it, stop being all of you." Larry replies reliantly. He thinks he's right, huh? Then, he's wrong. I will go out there and prove myself. I'll prove that I'm not a weakling and that I can do things right.

"Oooh…" I say, narrowing my eyes and nodding.

"Oooh, yeah." Larry repeats with my same gesture.

"You- you sir are playing a dangerous game. Keeping all my anger- contained…"

I don't think this little awkward speech will make Larry change his ideas. I need something else, and now.

"There'll be consequences!" I finally proclaim as I wave my finger in his face to prove that I'm confident of myself. Something that I just noticed is that Larry has been looking at me with a blank expression, like he wasn't listening to a single word I said. Ignoring me completely.

"I'll take my chances." He says in total disinterest as he turns around and walks to the other side of the stall, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Well, maybe this is what I needed after all.

"**One day, I'll get out there. Because, at night, fighting an animatronic is **_**everything **_**around here."**

I look out the window to take a good look of everything happening around me. The only thing I want is to go out there. What can be so dangerous? They're just machines out of control!

I see a large shadow around some of the cottages.

"**Fighting Bonnie is sure to get me at least noticed."**

Bonnie is one of the animatronics that creeps you out even without meaning it. The only things that somebody can really like about him are his light purple color and that red bowtie he has attached. Not even his eyes can be like-able. Yes, they're purple and anyone could think that's cute, but just wait until they turn to black. One thing that's also scary about this thing is that he is incredibly large, and with those ears, well, they make him look even larger.

Various meters next to Bonnie I see another animatronic, partially hidden by the shadows, sneaking around.

"**Chica is tough. Fighting her will definitely get me a girlfriend."**

At first Chica may look like something you can like, but when you happen to know her well, you'll see that the only thing that's not scary about her is her bib. She's always giving you that pissed stare and you always feel her eyes on you. It's something I don't really like. And there's something that makes me feel insecure; Chica can fly. And you don't want to get caught in an aerial attack. That almost happened to me, so…

I look to another part of the outside, and my gaze comes across something moving really fast around an old cottage.

"**Foxy is sneaky. If you can't see him, you can't know when he's going to attack."**

Foxy is incredibly aggressive towards people, but he's cautious and goes unnoticed most of the time. But you don't really want to get near him. His appearance is just creepy. His fur is tattered all over and his legs are completely bare. And his eyes… They're not like the other animatronics', they're a dull white, they give you a blank stare, sometimes I even think Foxy is blind, but sure he isn't. Another thing you want to take in mind is that he's incredibly fast and is hard to see him running around. His dark red color also helps on that. You just don't want to get caught by that intimidating hook or by those sharp fangs.

"Concentrate fire over the lower bank!" I hear the booming voice of Jack yell at the men with him at the bola-launchers. They're like mine, but bigger and better in functionality. And they're placed atop of tall, wooden towers.

"Fire!" a man shouts as the bola-launcher shoots a bola that ends hitting Chica. I don't know why keep using these things though, the animatronics always manage to set themselves free.

I see a shadow circling around the pole of the bola-launcher where Jack is.

"**Then, there's Freddy. Only the veteran workers go after him. He has this… nasty habit of creeping up on you."**

Jack looks down right when that bear climbs up the tower, breaking through the walkway and staring madly at Jack.

"Reload!" Jack orders the men before turning to Freddy with a hammer on hand. "I'll take care of this." He mutters. He hits Freddy twice. Before a third hit, the bear tries to attack, but he's stopped by a sound. No, not a sound. _The _sound. He turns around and immediately leaves to any other place.

"**But the ultimate prize is the animatronic no one's ever seen."**

Jack and the others look up as a subsonic whine pierces the air. I lean out of the window.

"**We call it..."**

"Golden Freddy!" some shouts.

"Get down!" another yells.

Right then, something smashes right through the bola launcher, making it explode and destroying it.

"Jump!" I hear Jack shout as he jumps off the burning weapon.

"**This thing never steals anything, never shows itself, and…"**

I hear the subsonic shine again. I try to see that damned thing, but it's impossible. The whine gets louder and louder until it's deafening, and a shadow smashes through the already damaged tower, making it fall off.

"**No one has ever fought Golden Freddy."**

I narrow my eyes with security.

"**That's why I'm gonna be the first."**

As I walk away from the window, I see Larry placing an axe on his hand appendage and throwing the other thing aside.

"Man the fort, Mike. They need _me _out there." He tells me as he starts walking towards the open door. He suddenly turns around and points at me with his good hand

"Stay… Put… There." He says awkwardly. I stare at him innocently. "You know what I mean."

Of course I do, he wants me to stay here meanwhile he's out there fighting these things. How about no?

Larry lets out a battle cry as he lifts up his hand with the axe, and, hobbling, runs towards where Jack is. My perfect opportunity.

I run with the bola launcher through the crowd, who yell at me to return.

"I know. Be right back!" I say as I keep on running. I just notice I almost run down a woman, but fortunately we both manage to lean to the side so we don't crash.

_POV – Jack_

I found them. Bonnie, Chica and Foxy are surrounding a group of men. I pick up a net and throw it with an angry grunt. We have to do everything possible to keep these monsters on place. Some night guards try to hold the net.

"Mind yourself! The devil still has some juice in 'em!" I yell as I help the men.

_POV – Mike_

I run towards a cliff, hurriedly set up my bola-launcher and wait. Everything is incredibly calm around here. It's peaceful. I look up at the sky. Nothing but clouds and stars.

"Come on, give me some to shoot at, give me some to shoot at." I pray. My words seem to have a response. I hear a faint, electronic roar. I look more attentively at the surroundings. The roar is louder now. My eyes widen for just a second before I put all my attention in the sky.

There's… something moving through the it.

I can see a black blur flying around the stars. Then, the subsonic whine appears. I focus on the blur, trying not to lose it. Something makes a bola-launcher in front of me explode, and seconds later I see the blur with more clarity flying right through the fire. I look away and close my eyes as I shoot. The recoil sends me flying. I land on my back, hard, but I still hear it. As I'm breathing heavily, I hear a loud pained roar and a shadow falling down. I can't believe my eyes. Did I just…

"Oh I hit it?" I mutter with eyes open wide, nodding involuntarily. "Yes I hit it!" I yell triumphantly, lifting up both arms in the air and turning to the building to make sure everyone saw that. "Did anybody see that?"

Well, apparently no one did. But now I hear a mechanical growling behind me and what sounds like a wooden structure being broken. I turn around. And who's there? Freddy, of course.

"Except for you…" I say frustrated.

_POV – Jack_

A high-pitched scream alerts me. I turn around.

No, not again.

Mike is running away from Freddy, panicking. I sigh in frustration. I thought Larry, and everyone else, told him to stay in either the stall or inside the restaurant. Looks like it's time for me to save him. Again.

"Do _not _let them escape!" I order the men as I run towards Mike. The only thing I would need now is the rest of animatronics running around without vigilance.

"Right!" one of them shouts.

_POV – Mike_

I run past walls, barrels in the ground, fences, destroyed cottages, but still I can't find anything to hide. And worst of all, Freddy is right behind me.

Finally! There's a tall pole in front of me. I hide behind it in hopes that this cursed animatronic doesn't find me.

Silence.

There's only silence now. Did he leave? I don't know, but well, I'll have to check. I know I will regret this. Hesitantly, I peek over the pole. Nothing there. But I'm starting to think that this little mess is not over yet… Because I feel a low hiss sound next to me.

Within a second, Jack appears and drives Freddy away from me. Right on time. Literally, right on time. It's 6:00 AM, I can see it from the clock tower. Jack gets in a defensive posture as Freddy keeps on growling, before his eyes, which are just tiny blue and black pupils, turn to normality again. He must know which time it is too. He even looks kinda scared.

"You're all out." Jack says under his breath as he starts walking towards the animatronic. He starts beating Freddy till he leaves and returns to the restaurant. Jack, of course, does his shoulder thing.

"**Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know."**

I didn't even notice the pole was burning till it falls off, showing Jack in front of me with an angry look on his face. I try to look as innocent as possible. The wide part at the tallest part pole, the one that is burning, falls over a bridge, almost crushing a man that was standing there. The burning piece falls down the walkway, rolling and knocking off various things on its way down.

I wince at each crashing sound and each faint scream I hear.

"Sorry… Dad…" I apologize. Even if it sounds like the weirdest thing in the world, the owner of this cursed place is actually my dad.

_POV – Anonymous_

The burning part of the pole rolls down the walkway and falls directly into the net that held the other three animatronics, burning it and making the night guards that were holding it run away. Bonnie, Chica and Foxy immediately return to their spots.

_POV – Mike_

I look with guiltiness at the mess. I can feel Jack staring at me, I just can feel it. I look at him with the most innocent face I've ever made, then point at the sky.

"Okay, but I hit Golden Freddy." I quickly say. A huge hand grabs my from the back of my shirt as it already happened three times this night. Jack drags me towards the building. I have to get him to listen to me, and now.

"Oooh, it's not like the last few times, dad, I mean that really actually hit it!"

Nothing I say takes effect on Jack. He just keeps walking, refusing to look at me. I almost lose my footing as I try to follow his rhythm but at the same time slow it down.

"You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It… went down, just off the mountain. Let's get a search party out there before it-"

Jack lets go my outfit and turns at me with an angered, "Stop!"

My eyes widen. This is one of the very few times he shouts at me like that.

"Just… stop. Every time you step outside, disaster falls! Can you not see that I have bigger problems? I have an _entire_ crew of workers to take care of!"

There's actually about one hundred staff here. Is that necessary? Even so, I speak before I can think about it.

"Yeah between you and me the guys can do things at your own, don't you think?"

"This isn't a joke, Mike!" Dad yells in annoyance. He sighs in frustration. "Why can't you follow the simplest _orders_?"

This last word sounded like a growl. I'm really starting to get scared of how angry Jack is right now.

"I- I c- I can't stop myself! I see an animatronic outside and I have just to… fight it, you know? It's… who I am, dad."

Who I really am? I don't think so. Who I am here? Of course. Jack puts his hand over his front like he was facing a headache with a grunt in an 'I don't know what to do anymore' manner.

"Oh, you're… Many things, Mike. But someone who can fight the animatronics is not one of them." He says, calmed down apparently, but still frustrated. "Get back to your house."

I almost forgot my shift ended as well as the other guards'. I roll my eyes and lower my head. I messed everything up again. This wasn't what I had in mind.

"Larry, go with him. I have his mess to clean up." Jack concludes.

I start walking with Larry behind me. And when I thought things couldn't get worse, I hear a cackle from Jasmine.

"Quite the performance." Jacob teases. I was really expecting this, I will give it no importance.

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly." James joins the mock. "That helped!"

"Thank you, thank you, I was trying, so…" I reply with the hopes of making them shut up already. I hear James grumble and a fall sound. Larry must've hit him. For nothing maybe, as I hear his chuckle moments later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The downed animatronic**

* * *

_POV – Mike_

"I really _did _hit it." I softly tell Larry as we walk up my way home.

"Sure, Mike." He says in the same tone, but his sounds bored and tired.

"He never listens."

"It runs the family."

"And- and when he does he's always with this… disappointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat on his sandwich."

I stop in front of the entrance door in my house and turn to Larry. I try to give an impression of my father by narrowing my eyes and putting up a deep voice.

"Excuse me barmaid, I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fishbone!"

"No, you're thinkin' about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like, it's what's _inside _that he can't stand." Larry points out.

I frown and give him an 'are you serious?' look. Was he really thinking that would cheer me up? I don't think so.

"Thank you, for summing that up." I say arrogantly as I turn to the door. Larry stops me again as soon as I reach the knob.

"Look, the point is: stop trying so hard to be something you're not."

"I just wanna be one of you, guys." I say with my voice cracking. I enter and close the door behind me. I know Larry was going to try and cheer me up again, and I really don't want that to happen.

However, I grab a pencil, my sketchbook and a dagger and exit the house from the backdoor. I'm not going to stay here meanwhile that thing is out there waiting for me.

* * *

POV - Jack

All the warriors are reunited in the dining room, sitting around a big, circular table.

"Either we finish them, or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll get rid of them!" I proclaim. "If we find the source of this problem and destroy it, the animatronics will be normal again!"

I stab a map in the table with a knife, just to dramatize the scene.

"One more search, before the ice sets in." I add. From these past years, we discovered that, some nights, the animatronics get out the restaurant and hurriedly go to some far away zone. And we have to know where they go.

"Those explorers never come back." A man points out.

"You're workers here, it's an occupational hazard." I reply. "Now who's with me?"

All the men mumble in disagreement and fear. None of them are sure if to say yes or no. The situation is very dangerous, but something must be done, and I won't stop till the workers agree. Fortunately for me, I have a little trick that always convinces everyone.

"Alright…" I mutter. "Those who stay will look after Mike."

As I suspected, all hands rise up. I hear animated yells and some battle cries. "That's more like it." I conclude. Everyone but Larry clears out.

"Well, I'll pack my undies." he says, standing up from his seat.

"No, I need you to stay and train some new workers." I say calmly, walking towards Larry. We both sit on the same table.

"Oh perfect, and while I'm busy, Mike can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, plenty of time to himself… What could possibly go wrong?" Larry says sarcastically. I see his point and shake my head.

"What am I going to do with him, Larry?"

"Put him in training with the others."

"No, I'm serious!"

"So am I!"

"He'll be killed before you let the first animatronic out of its cage!" I argue with concern. Mike is too… stubborn to join the Animatronic Training arena.

"Oh, you don't know that." Larry says with a wave of his hand.

"I _do _know that."

"No you don't."

"No, actually, I do." I insist.

"No, you don't!" Larry repeats once again exasperatedly.

"Listen, you know what he's like." I say calmly, standing up and walking around the room. "By the time he's been working here he's been… _different_. He doesn't listen, he has the attention span of a sparrow… I take him to guard the restaurant and he goes hunting for- for _trolls_!"

"Trolls exist!" is the first thing Larry says about the whole situation. "They steal your socks. But only the left ones, what's with tha'?"

I sigh. "When I was a boy…"

"Oh here we go." Larry mutters, not wanting to pay attention to a story he listened hundreds of times and on.

"My father told me to bang my head against a rock. And I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question it. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache." Larry says sarcastically and without interest. Well, he already knows the answer to that question, but why repeat it for the millionth time? After all, I alwaysask that same question when I'm telling this story.

"That rock split in two. It told me what a person that works here can do, Larry. We can- we can do things no one else can do!" I say with an animated flavor before sighing and sitting on a chair near Larry. "Even as a boy I knew what I was, what I had to become… Mike is _not _like that…"

"You can't stop him, Jack. You can only prepare him." Larry says softly and with a slight tone of concern. I look at him like he just said something crazy. "I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is: you won't always be around to protect him, he's going out there again. He's probably out there now."

This last statement is enough for me to realize that Larry was right yet again.

* * *

_POV - Mike_

It's a cloudy morning around. While searching for the animatronic I shot down, I made my way towards the woods. The map I drew on my sketchbook is covered by arrows and black X's, the spots where she checked for the robot. I signal with my pencil at a part of the map that hasn't got an X yet, close my eyes, look at front and…

Nothing there but just trees and bushes.

I sigh in disappointment and keep walking. I draw another X, but then scrabble all over the page in sudden anger. It's pointless; I'm not going to find that thing. I let abruptly the pencil inside the notebook, close it and leave it on my pocket. Then I sigh once again.

"Oh, life hates me." I mutter. "Some people lost their knife or their mug," I say, kicking a small stone on my way. "No, not me, I managed to loose and entire _animatronic!"_

I violently slap a tree branch in front of me, only to be slapped back and get hit hardly in the right eye. This hurts a lot. I put my hand over my eye and look at the branch. What I see leaves me astonished.

That tree is ripped in half and makes its way down a hill.

Something else that I notice is that there are claw marks in the tree trunk and a wide trough in the ground that ends on a slight terrain elevation at the end of the hill.

Bewildered, I follow the muddy path, quickly, but carefully, and observe mindfully the scratch marks on the rocks and other trees. They look made by an out of control animal that tried its best to hang from these things to avoid a hard fall. It apparently failed. I crawl over the elevation in the ground and gasp loudly, immediately ducking down with eyes open wide.

There's something down there.

I peek over the edge ever so carefully and see a golden 'bear' lying on the ground, unmoving, behind various boulders and wrapped up in a bola. I hurriedly search for my dagger and gasp as I hold it in front of me, trying to get my breathing steady. I slide down the embankment, jump off and hide behind a boulder. I snort with insecurity and peek over the rock to have a better view of the thing. It's with no doubt the fearsome Golden Freddy.

I can't believe I did it. I shot it down, I wasn't wrong!

It's something… amazing. I realize the color of this thing is a very dull golden, with various tones of black. It has its eyes and mouth completely closed. This animatronic really looks like Freddy, the only notable differences I find are its color and its bowtie, which is blue instead of black.

"Oh wow… I- I… I did it. Oooh, I did it!"

I approach the animatronic with my arms extended towards him- or it, whatever-. "This- this fixes everything! Yes!"

I place a foot on the thing's rusty arm. "I have brought down this mighty beast-"

An annoyed growl scares me as the animatronic's arm shakes my leg off sharply, sending me back to the boulder.

It's then when it starts to breath. The sound of this breathing sounds very… electronic. Its arms rise and fall erratically with every shaky breath it takes. Then, it opens its eye.

It's an eye colored in black with a tiny white pupil that stares right into my eyes. I try not to look at that eye, it's too… expressive… I try to focus on any other part, but a desperate whimper drives my attention back to it. This eye is trying to tell me something. My whole body starts to shake. I inhale and exhale, faster each second that goes by, trying to calm myself down.

"I am going to kill you, you hear me?" I tell it in a low voice. "I'm going to- I'm going to show you to my father." I close my eyes as I mutter, "I'm a night guard."

I look down at Golden Freddy again. I start to hate those eyes, they keep staring at me even if I don't want them to. They shouldn't be pleading, they should be filled with hate. They shouldn't stare at me like that.

"I'm a night guard!" I shout, trying to take some confidence. The animatronic wails, like it just… it just understood me or something. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I hold the dagger above my head. But my hands do not come down. They _won't _come down. Something inside me is telling me not to do this. I slowly look again at Golden Freddy.

Its eyes have widened and it gives a couple of low snorts. Suddenly, I feel a burning shame. I feel guiltiness, sadness, I feel like I did something that shouldn't have been done. I try to get those thoughts out of my mind shaking my head, closing my eyes again and holding the dagger above my head again. I hear the animatronic whimper in defeat.

My dagger drops to my head. I can't do it. I rub my face with my hand as I let it fall. I look at my dagger, then at Golden Freddy. It closed its eye already.

"I did this…" I mutter. I cannot look at this poor creature anymore. I turn around, take a few steps back to my house, when something stops me from going. And it's that feeling of guiltiness again. I can't leave Golden Freddy here, whatever happens to it will be my fault. I look back at it.

My eyes close and I look away. The best I can do right now is solve this.

_POV – Anonymous_

As Mike starts to nervously cut off the ropes, Golden Freddy's eye flies open. Its pupil moves towards the boy, who didn't realize the animatronic's arms were already free.

_POV – Hiccup_

I didn't even arrive to cut off a fourth rope when Golden Freddy suddenly springs up. Panicking, I flinch away when a giant golden paw slams into my chest and pins me to the ground. I feel a sharp pain on the back of my head; I must've hit a rock behind me. I look up, just to meet a pair of furious black eyes that stare, not into my eyes, but into my soul. Claws that look like if they were real make it difficult for me to breath. My heart pounds like I was free-falling from the sky.

Its round ears twitch as Golden Freddy straightens up, snarling. No one has ever seen this animatronics. And I'm sure that's because no one has ever survived an encounter with it. Those soul-piercing eyes will be the last thing I'll ever see, I know it.

But then, it gets its paw off me and _roars _in my face, my ears feel like they're exploding, the ground could even shake. Leaving dust behind it, Golden Freddy turns around and flies away, growling in anger. As it flies, it hits a rock and soars lower and lower.

I try to get my breathing steady, my hand on my chest just to feel my heart pounding a million times each second. I snort, my body goes limp. My hand comes across the forgotten dagger. I grab it and stand up. I can still see the animatronic hidden in the white fog. I take some steps back home before my dagger slips off my hand, my knees shake like I was drunk and I faint.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Animatronic Training**

* * *

_POV - Mike_

It's nighttime already. I return to my house as I've been the whole day outside. I'm incredibly tired, so I just wanna go to bed and forget everything that happened. I slowly enter, but when I look at front, I'm greeted with a little surprise.

Dad.

I close the door carefully, trying not to alert him, and hurry without making any kind of sound towards the stairs that lead to my room.

"Mike…" Jack says, making me stop immediately.

"Dad!" I suddenly say, kind of worried now. I stop abruptly my race up the stairs and come down again. "Uh… I have to, uh, talk to you, dad."

"I need to speak with you too, son." Dad says calmly, standing up from his seat. We both take a deep breath.

"I think it's time I don't want to you learn fight animatronics." we say at the same time, making a senseless sentence. "What?" both of us ask in the same tone.

"Ah, you go first." Dad offers. I think he better start first, maybe he wants to tell me something really important that I must know. He rarely _need_s to speak with me, so I'll listen.

"No, no _you _go first." I insist.

"Alright. You get your wish. Animatronic Training. You start in the morning."

My eyes widen. In a normal case, I would be jumping up and down out of joy, but after my wild encounter with an angry Golden Freddy, now being in the arena is my worst nightmare. I'll have to deal with more angry and deadly robots probably every day. Fantastic.

"Oh man, I should've gone first." I say nervously. So true, if I knew this was going to happen, I would have spoke up first without hesitation. Dad never listens to me, and I doubt he's going to do it now. "Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know, we have this surplus of animatronic-fighting night guards, but do we have enough… Bread-making staff? Or small home repair wor-"

"You're going to need this." My words are cut off by Jack giving me an axe, and a heavy one at that. I barely manage to hold it with both arms.

"I don't wanna fight the animatronics." I say, my voice almost trembling. I really don't want to. Dad laughs softly.

"Oh, come on. Yes you do." he says, walking towards the other side of the room. I follow him. As I suspected, he doesn't listen and he wants me to do what I don't want to do.

"Rephrase, dad: I _can't _fight the animatronics."

"But you _will _fight the animatronics." Dad insists, like this was the most important thing in the world right now.

"No, I am really very extra sure that I won't." I say nervously, the axe almost slipping off my arms.

"It's time, Mike." Dad proclaims, now with a more serious tone.

"Can you not hear me?" I protest. He has a very nasty habit of ignoring me and doing things against my wishes. I hate it, I really hate it.

"This, is serious, Mike. When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you." Jack says, picking up the axe and giving it back to me. Once again, I barely manage to catch it, and, tired of its ridiculously heavy weigh, I place it on a table next to me. "That means you walk like us, you _talk_ like us, you _think _like us. No more of… this" he concludes, pointing at me with both arms, something that I'm really getting tired of. Apparently, everyone in the staff refers to me as 'this'. Why? I have no idea.

"You just gestured to all of me." I point out arrogantly, rolling my eyes and narrowing them in annoyance.

"Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling really one sided-"

"_Deal?"_ Dad repeats, louder. No way, and what if I don't wanna go? Sometimes I feel like I want to shout at Jack, but something deep inside tells me I shouldn't. I sigh in annoyance and look at the floor. I'm going to regret this, I know it, I _feel _it.

"Deal…"

"Good." Dad says, picking up a big basket. "Train hard, I'll be back." He tells me, walking towards the door. "Probably." He finally adds.

"And I'll be here. Maybe." I say as dad closes the door.

* * *

_POV - Astrid_

"Welcome to the Animatronic Training." Larry announces, lifting up a metal gate that leads towards a circular arena. So this is the Animatronic Training. The place is a large circle. The floor is made of concrete and it's somewhat sloppy as its wet. There are many stages surrounding it, and a conjunct of metal wires that make a mid circle above the arena. The ones that are going to fight these things with me are James, Eric and the twins. What a wonderful class I have here…

"No turning back." I mutter, walking towards the center of the arena with the rest following me, all of us looking around. This is bigger that what I thought, and even more now that we are completely inside.

"I hope I get some serious marks!" Jacob says with confidence, trying to act tough. I think he's tough enough already, neither him nor his sister care about getting hurt.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like in the shoulder or lower back." Jasmine adds, grinning. Even if it sounds crazy, I'm with them.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." I agree. If you don't get hurt, it's just not worth it.

"Yeah, no kidding right?" a voice says lowly. Don't tell me that-

_POV – Mike_

I'm the last one to enter the arena. The other guys are here, and so is Astrid. I must follow the rest so I can fit better on this.

"Pain, love it." I say sarcastically, tired of the weight of the axe dad gave me last night.

"Oh great, who let him in?" Jacob teases with an arrogant expression.

"Let's get started!" Larry yells from next to me, silencing the idiots. Thanks God. "The one who does his best, will win the honor of having a real fight with one of the animatronics in front of the entire staff." He declares.

"Mike already fought Golden Freddy, so, does that disqualify him or…" James scoffs, making the twins laugh. This time even Eric grinned, and he's usually the one who doesn't mock me, along with Astrid. Chuckling at James's 'so funny joke', they all walk towards the center of the arena. Larry walks next to me.

"Don't worry." He says softly, wrapping his arm around me and making me walk towards where the others are placed. "You're small and weak, that'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the tougher guys instead."

Larry pats gently my shoulder with a small giggle and lets me go.

"Behind these doors are the animatronics you will learn to fight." Larry announces as he walks in front of us. Behind him are four huge, metallic doors.

"You will fight against Chica," he says, pointing at the first door that's being slammed once and once again.

"Speed eight, strength twelve." Eric says reliantly in a low voice, letting his knowledge about the animatronics be seen.

"Foxy," Gobber continues, pointing at a door being slammed more violently that the other. Snarls are heard from behind it.

"Plus eleven stealth times two." Eric points out, louder. He's even starting to tremble. I sometimes think he takes this too seriously.

"Freddy,"

"Speed fifteen!"

"Can you stop that?!" Larry yells madly, making Eric finally shut up. He rolls his eyes and walks to the last door, placing his hand on a lever. Is he going to do what I think he's going to do? "And, Bonnie."

"Jaw strength eight." Eric whispers to my ear.

"W- whoa, whoa, wait. Aren't you gonna teach us first?" James says worriedly. He seems to notice Larry's crazy intention too. I don't like this…

"I believe in learning on the job." Larry concludes, smiling, as he pulls down the lever. The metal chains lift up the wide, wooden pole that holds the door, and this flies open as Bonnie goes out. We all scream and start running all around the arena. His eyes are black with white pupils, thing that makes thins worse.

"Today is about survival." Larry tells us as he watches the scene. Bonnie was running so fast he stumbles and hits a wall. "If you get caught, you're dead."

I hope Larry is not talking seriously.

"Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?" Larry yells.

"A doctor?" I say doubtingly, shrugging.

"Plus-five speed?" Eric says nervously.

"A shield." Astrid finally guesses with reliance. She's again calm even if a murderous thing is chasing us. It's just amazing.

"Shields, go!" Larry confirms. We all start running towards the shields, placed all over. I go for a red one lying on the floor. I try to pick it up, but my axe is not making it easy.

"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield." Larry continues. "If you must make a choice between a normal weapon or a shield, pick the shield!" he yells as he runs towards me, helps me pick up the shield in a slightly abrupt way and shoves me towards the others. In the distance I see Jacob grabbing a shield, and afterwards, Jasmine trying to steal it.

"Get your hands off mu shield!" Jacob yells.

"There's like a million shields!" Jasmine argues back. It's so true, they're fighting on a pile of shields.

"Take that one, it has flowers, girls like flowers." Jacob teases. During the mock, he momentarily lost interest on the shield he was trying to keep, making it easy for Jasmine to snatch it out. She holds it above her head and hits her brother right in the head.

"Oops, now this one has blood one it." She jeers as Jacob regains consciousness and attempts to take the shield again. What they don't seem to notice is that Bonnie is running directly towards them. He smashes right trough the shield, shattering it into pieces, and making the twins roll and fall to the ground.

"Jacob, Jasmine, you're out!" Larry announces.

"What?" they both say, dazed.

"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of it to throw off an animatronic's aim." Larry hints. When Bonnie gets close to us, we start banging our weapons against the shields, making a sharp, irritating noise. Bonnie starts to look really dazed and looks like he's losing focus. We start walking in circles around the robot, trying to distract it for as long as possible. Suddenly, everyone stops banging their shields and run in circles. Bonnie comes back to normal gain and starts looking at the guys running around him menacingly.

"I think we should-" Eric starts, but his words get cut off when Bonnie bites off the shield he just lifted up in the air.

"Eric, out." Larry points out with a bored tone. Eric screams and runs away with both arms lifted up. During all his, I hid behind a wooden rack.

"Mike, get in there!" Larry yells. He must've spotted me. I carefully come out, my shield covering my face, but I hear a sudden, electronic snarl and I hide back in the rack. This is way too dangerous. Bonnie starts looking around, trying to find the other two. Only me, Astrid and James are left.

"So anyway, I- I'm moving to my parent's basement. You should come by sometime to work out." James says, trying to flirt with Astrid. When she notices that Bonnie is running towards them, she cartwheels away. "You look like you work out." James continues, not taking his view off Astrid. Bonnie hits violently his shield and sends him to the ground.

"Snoutlout, you're done!" Gobber announces, kinda cheerily if you ask me. Astrid gets next to me.

"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" I tell her, trying to smile with security. Her eyes widen.

"Nope, just you." she says as she runs away. When she's not in front of me anymore, I'm greeted by Bonnie running towards me. My shield gets thrown off my hands and I end on the floor. This hurts more than what I imagined, the impact is incredibly strong. The shield goes spinning all over the arena. I chase it, trying to pick it back. It rolls to the other side when I notice that Bonnie is _right _behind me.

"Mike!" Gobber yells worriedly, trying to warn me. I look behind, then back at front, only to see a black wall in front of me.

Oh no.

I try to run to any other part, but when I see Bonnie walking towards me, I flinch away, slip, and fall, my back resting on the wall.

No, no, no, not again.

Bonnie narrows his eyes and leans back. I close my eyes and brace for the worst, but nothing happens. I see a hook reach in and grabbing Bonnie's mouth before he could do anything. And there goes my heart racing again. Larry tries to get the animatronic, who's trying to get its mouth free, back to its cage.

"Go back to bed, ya overgrown bunny." Larry says as he spins around and sends Bonnie back to the cage and closes the door. "You'll get another chance, don't you worry." He tells us.

Larry walks in front of me, but still not looking at me. "Remember, an animatronic will always," he then faces me. "_Always_, go for the kill."

He grabs my arms and makes me stand up. I try to catch my breath as I look at the doors. There's something I can't put in place right now…


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Wounded**

* * *

_POV – Mike_

"So why didn't you?" I wonder back at the forest, picking up one of the iron balls attached to the bola I left there. I remember what Larry said.

'An animatronic will always go for the kill.'

If that's true, why didn't Golden Freddy just kill me? I had to come back here. I need answers. I start walking towards the way Golden Freddy took. I don't think it's still here, but I'll have to try. I jump over a fallen tree trunk and walk towards a couple of huge rocks. It's the entrance to a cove. Nothing out of normal here. Singing birds flying around, a big lake, trees, rocks… But no animatronic to be seen.

"I was so stupid." I mutter to myself. When I turn to leave, I see something on the rocky ground. Small pieces of golden fur. I crouch and pick up one, observing it. I wonder how this ended up here. Within a second, a golden figure appears in front of me, making me jump back. In the rock next to me there's the animatronic that almost kills me. I can't believe it's still here.

But… why?

It snarls desperately as it tries to climb up the declivitous boulder, but apparently is not able to. Golden Freddy slips off the rock and soars to the other side, overflying the lake. I still don't know how this thing can fly. It's a mystery. Maybe if I look closer I'll have some answers. I slide down the rocks, I almost fall off when I jump. Golden Freddy uses a boulder to boost itself and tries to fly again. The flight starts out good, but then the animatronic moves to its side and falls to the ground with a desperate grunt. I start to notice how limp and lifeless its movements are. That's another thing I would like to figure out. I frown. I saw it flying the day I first met it, so now why does it fly like that? Once again, Golden Freddy tries to fly by climbing a rock and attempting to take some boost, but nothing. Suddenly, I remember that I brought my sketchbook with me. I search for it in my pockets and pick it up. The animatronic does the same thing it just did, but again falls off. I start drawing it, and as I do it I notice something strange; it has some kind of… 'fins' on the sides of its body. They're made with leather and metal wires as I can see them from here. Maybe that's how it flies.

"Why don't you just… fly away?" I ask to no one as I look at the drawing. Then I notice it. There are not two fins on its body.

There's only one.

I erase the left one and pull down the sketchbook right when Golden Freddy tries to fly up again. This last attempt on flying ends up on a rough fall. The animatronic shakily wakes up and moves to the shore of the lake, hobbling. These things can actually feel? How much do we _really_ know about them? Something saddens me. I think Golden Freddy lost its 'fin' during its fall when I shot it down. Why do I always mess something up? As I move my hand down, my pencil slips off my hand. I gasp and hurriedly try to catch it, but it's too late. It falls off and hits a rock, thing that moves the animatronic's attention to where the pencil came from. Me. I hear it grunting lowly as it stares at me. Its eyes are slightly narrowed, but they don't express anger or hatred. With my hand still in the position to reach out the fallen pencil, I lean back and tilt my head. Golden Freddy mirrors my action. Now _this _is strange.

* * *

I open the restaurant's main door. Larry and the others are sitting on the tables, having a reunion about today's training.

"Alright, where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Larry asks.

"I mistimed my somersault." Astrid answers as I close the door behind me. "It was sloppy, it throw off my stumble."

"Yeah, we noticed." Jasmine points out with her raspy voice.

"No!" James interrupts. "No, no, you were great. That was so Astrid."

"She's right." Larry agrees with Astrid. "You have to be tough with yourselves."

I pick up my dinner from the table they're all sitting on.

"Where did Mike go wrong?" Larry asks when he spots me. Just what I needed. James makes out a huge grin.

"Uh, he showed up?" Jasmine asks sarcastically.

"He didn't get hurt." Jacob teases. When I get closer to the table to pick up a glass of water, James moves to the side so I don't sit with them. Not like that I wanted to.

"He's _never _where he should be." Astrid says with a serious tone, hurting me inside.

"_Thank you_, Astrid." Larry says as I place my food on the next table and sit in. He comes closer to me. "You need to live and breathe this stuff."

He picks up a red book and slightly lifts it up, showing it to the rest, but not to me.

"The animatronic manual." He tells as he moves aside the things on the other table and drops the book in. "Everything we know about the animatronics."

Everything, eh? Well, I think I might give this book a little look. A thunder roll is heard from the outside, making Larry look at the door attentively, then at the animatronics, all lifelessly staring down at the floor in the show stage.

"Huh… No attacks tonight. Study up." Larry says softly as he walks away. God thank you the animatronics aren't going to do any crazy thing this night. They never attack when there's a thunderstorm outside. I wonder why…

"Wait, you mean read?" Jacob realizes out loud.

"While we're still alive?" Jasmine adds, equally shocked.

"Why read words about stuff when you can just fight the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" James says without thinking if he's making sense or not.

"Oh, I've read it like… seven times." Eric says cheerily as the sound of Larry closing the door is heard all over the dining room. "There are some situations when the animatronics throw things at you," he says, trying to be a genius about everything. James looks at him like he was an alien, frowning widely. "And- and there's other-"

"Yeah, it sounds great." Jacob cuts him off, making a 'shut your mouth' gesture with his hand. "There was a chance I was gonna read that."

But… now…" Jasmine ends the sentence, rolling her eyes as another distant beam is heard.

"You guys read, I'm gonna do more important things." James says, making everyone but Astrid stand up. I walk towards her.

"So I guess we'll… Share?"

"Read it." Astrid quickly says, pushing the book towards me and leaving.

"Huh, all mine then. Wow." I stutter, looking at the book. "O- okay, I- I'll see you- ah…"

I get cut off as Astrid slams the door, leaving me completely alone.

"Tomorrow…" I mutter disappointedly before letting out a brief, frustrated sigh.

* * *

Various hours later, when everything is completely dark, I go back to the dining room. I leave the flashlight I brought with me on the table, pointing at the forgotten book, and sit in. I open the book and start reading it loudly. Not that anyone would care, I'm alone.

"Night behavior classifications: Silent mode, fear mode, mystery mode."

There are a lot of things in this book, like how to hide, things it's recommendable to have during the night and such. But what I need to know is if there's something about Golden Freddy in this book. I flip to the pages containing the animatronic attack methods.

"Foxy. This reclusive animatronic will rarely attack anyone. When startled, he can kill a man at close range if they happen to be near him. Extremely dangerous; fight on sight."

I flip three or four pages.

"Chica. This animatronic has razor sharp wings that can slice through almost anything that gets on her path. Extremely dangerous; fight on sight."

I flip yet some other pages. All of them seem to end on the same sentence.

"Bonnie. Charges towards persons if he's startled and can cause violent crashes that are capable of breaking bones. Extremely dangerous; fight on sight."

I suddenly scream when a beam louder than any other I've heard reflects the animatronics' shadows in the wall and scares me. I need to stay calm. I've already heard Larry: no attacks tonight. I drive my attention back to the book and start flipping pages randomly.

"Behavior, activity, tips, fighting methods, hints, things to not do."

All this is starting to scare me.

"How to survive, how to hide, how to attack, how to get protection… Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous… Fight on sight, fight on sight, fight on sight…"

I finally spot the page I was looking for. But it's blank and stained, and there's only a name and a brief text below.

"Golden Freddy. Speed: unknown. Size: unknown. The unholy offspring of lighting and death itself. Never encage this animatronic. Your only hope: hide and pray it does not find you."

I search for my sketchbook, open the page containing the drawing I made this morning and drop it on the book.

* * *

_POV – Jack_

Me and some of the bravest workers walk through the woods. I know the animatronics have been there, their footsteps are totally noticeable in the ground. I stroke the map I have on my hands.

"I can almost smell them. They're close." I think out loud. As soon as the thunder storm from last night stopped, the animatronics left once again. I'm sure they're somewhere around here. We all stop in front of a part covered in a dense coat of tree leaves, plants and a strong, white fog.

"Steady." I tell the men as I signal them to stop. I hear them mumbling things as they stare nervously at the view before them. "Well go in." I order after some seconds of thinking. We slowly enter, losing visual contact with each other. I hear faint growls. Suddenly… We are attacked.

* * *

**A/N**

**So yeah, I had to add some little things to Goldie's appearance. The story wouldn't make sense if he couldn't fly. I also couldn't think of anything more suitable than those 'fins', really. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Forbidden friendship**

* * *

_POV – Mike_

"Hey, you know?" I tell Larry, who's resting outside the ring in the metal wires, the next day on the arena. Today it's set up like a maze, with lots of tall, wooden walls placed all over. "I just happened to notice the book had nothing about Golden Freddy. Is there like another book, or a- a sequel? Maybe a… a little pamphlet- whoa!"

Something goes running incredibly fast right in front of me, making me almost fall.

"Focus Mike!" Larry yells at me. I can easily guess he wasn't listening. I bet you know where he got that habit from. My dad, of course. "You're not even trying!"

As he says this, I see Chica in front of me, hissing. She comes off one of the walls and charges at me. I try to run, but where? Left, no, no, right, no left! I don't know where to go. Panicking, I finally decide to go right.

"Today, is all about _attack_!" I hear Larry instruct. I hide behind a wall, but Chica hops over it and hisses again at me. I run in all directions but that persistent chicken is following me all the time.

"Chica is quick and light on her feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!"

I finally manage to mislead her. Now I need to stay away for as long as possible, and hopefully let the others do the dangerous work. Each day, things get harder. The first day I almost get killed, so I better don't come near the battle.

_POV – Eric_

I've been running in circles. Larry could at least put signals of where to go, right?

"Your job is to be quicker and lighter!" Larry tells us. Well, of course we can be quicker and lighter than an animatronic. Well, quicker maybe not. As I make my way through the maze, I see Chica standing on a wall in front of me. I stop immediately. The ground is still sloppy. Someone could dry it, really. Chica spreads her wings, which make a low, rusty squeal, and jumps to the other wall. I run away as I scream till I can no more. That was close!

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" I yell at Larry. Is it necessary to learn how to protect yourself like this? Larry could at least teach us first in a normal way, not trying to kill us!

_POV - Jasmine_

"Look for her blind spot. Every animatronic has one." Larry hints on a bored tone. I bet he's enjoying watching us run for our lives. As me and my brother run through the walls, I see Mike panicking, running past us hurriedly. What a coward. I still don't understand who let him in, or why. As we turn left, that animatronic is in front of us.

"Find it, hide in it, and strike!" Larry yells as Chica looks around, like she can't see us or something. I think I now understand what the blind spot means. Then, something smells bad. Oh great, Jacob forgot to take a bath again. I wonder if he ever took one.

"Ugh, do you ever bathe?" I ask my dirty brother in a low voice.

"If you don't like it then get your own blind spot." He argues as I push him with my shield, just to get pushed back. I make him face me.

"How about I give you one?" I menace him as I shove him with my head, thing he does back. Then I hear an annoyed grunt. Oh right, the animatronic. Forgot her. We both look at Chica, maybe right on time as she tries to get us.

_POV – Mike_

How can Jacob and Jasmine be so simple-minded? They almost get caught, although that wouldn't really bother me.

"Blind spot? Yes. Deaf spot? Not so much." Larry says, ending his words on a chuckle. I stop when I'm finally facing him and try to ask him again. Maybe this is not the best moment, but I have nothing to lose.

"Hey- hey, ah, so how would one sneak up on Golden Freddy?"

Larry puts his hand over his front.

"No one's ever met it and lived to tell the tale." He says blankly. "Now get in there!"

I step back at that yell. Jeez, it's so loud. When did Larry learn to shout like that?

"I know, I know. But hypothetically-"

"Mike!" a female voice whispers. I can barely hear it. I turn around and see Astrid and James crouching behind a wall. "Get down!" Astrid whispers as she moves her hand on which she's holding the shield down, gesturing me to get crouch too. I quickly realize why. I have that animatronic in front of me now, trying to find us. Astrid hides within a second, and then summersaults to the other wall. James does the same. I try to follow them, but the weight of the shield makes me fall. And it's then when Chica notices me. I hurriedly get up, almost losing my footing and falling again, before Chica can get me.

_POV- Astrid_

Chica uses her wings to hop over the walls. When she spots us, she comes down with a hiss. It's now or never. When I'm ready to attack, though, James interferes.

"Don't worry, babe, I got this" he says reliantly, shoving me behind him and throwing his hammer at Chica. He misses awkwardly, as the hammer hits a wall various feet away from the animatronic. She chuckles at his clumsiness.

Wait… Did Chica just chuckle? When did she learn to do that?

"The sun was in my eyes Astrid!" he excuses as I run to the other side of the ring. He follows me. "What do you want me to do? Block the sun? I could do that, I just don't have time right now!" he exclaims, being the persistent guy he always was. He turns to the left while I keep on running straightly. I look behind. Then, I see Chica charging at me at an outstanding speed. I thought the only animatronic capable of running like that was Foxy. I turn abruptly to the side, making Chica hit a wall and knocking it over.

_POV – Mike_

"It probably takes the daytime off." I say to Larry once more, trying to get answers about Golden Freddy's behavior in case I find him again on the cove. "H- has anybody ever seen it napping or something?" I try to ask as the boys run past me and keep on hitting me on the shoulders.

"Mike!" Larry yells, noticing the walls falling, Chica hoping from one to another and Astrid escaping.

"MIKE!" she screams as she jumps off the last wall and lands on top of me.

"Oh, love in the battlefield!" I hear Jacob scoff. Astrid's axe got stuck on my shield. She tries to get it off without results. She's being a bit over exaggerated with this. Then, we both notice that Chica is charging at us. Astrid tries to grab her axe. I try to help her, but in an instant she rips the shield off my hands, almost ripping them along with it. She also snatches out the shield and hits Chica with fury. Dazed, she walks back to her enclosure.

"Well done Astrid." Larry announces. Astrid faces me, anger and some kind of fear on her expression. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?"

Then, the fear disappears, being replaced with more anger. "Our parents' war is about to become _ours_; figure out which said you're on".

They all leave, and I start to think about Golden Freddy, once again.

* * *

I hurry to the woods, then to the cove. I've brought my shield and my knife, just in case. No one knows when you will be needing those. I hope not to use them anyways. It would ruin my plan. Yes, I'm planning on befriending Golden Freddy. Maybe this will show it I'm not like the others. I look around, but the cove appears to be empty. With the shield in front of me, I walk towards the entrance, when suddenly I can't advance anymore. The shield got stuck between two large boulders. I try to dislodge it, but nothing. I think I just made it worse. I sigh as I crawl over it, and try to pull it out from there. Still nothing. I look with a nervous expression at the cove as I slowly walk around.

Maybe the animatronic left? I don't think so; last time I got very clear it's unable to fly.

As I get deeper into the cove, I hear the sound of little stones falling on the ground. I stop, and look ever so carefully to where the sound came from. I gasp as I jump back. Golden Freddy is over a boulder, observing each of my movements. It comes down the rock and gets in front of me with a menacing look on its face, snarling lowly. But it doesn't attack, just waits for me to do something. I slowly back up a little as I extend my arm.

"I- it's ok, I don't wanna hurt you" I say nervously. Golden Freddy looks to be calmed for a second, but then it looks down and suddenly backs up as it starts growling. My breathing goes faster. I think I know the problem. I search on my pockets and slowly lift up my hand, revealing the knife. I try to grab it, but I barely manage to when Golden Freddy backs up even more in anger and its snarl becomes louder. I gasp again, and reach up for the blade, slowly this time. Holding it next to me, I let it fall.

Not satisfied yet, the animatronic examines the weapon, and flicks its head towards the water. I get the warn, it doesn't want me to be near any weapon. I pick up the knife with my boot and throw it to the lake, not even knowing if this is a good thing to do or not, as now I'm defenseless. Golden Freddy looks at the water, then at me. Its eyes slightly widen. When I thought the reasons to be afraid of it were over by now, it starts advancing on me. It's growling, but not in a menacing way. I back up, my arm still extended.

"Ah, no no, no… I-" on my way, I fall and trip over a rock behind me. Golden Freddy stops just a very few feet away from me. "W- what do you want?" I ask, almost whispering. All of a sudden, it sits in front of me. I just stay there, exhaling in fear, but in confusion at the same time. We keep staring at each other for various seconds. Without knowing what to do, my cheeks swell like I was about to chug as I put together my knees. Golden Freddy slightly tilts its head.

Maybe Golden Freddy is actually male. I don't know, Freddy is, so maybe _he _is too.

Now I must think of something to tell him that I'm not an enemy and that he can trust me, but without words. Well, of course without words. I doubt the animatronics can understand them, they don't speak after all. So, I just give Golden Freddy a smile. Suddenly, he starts to get very interested on my action as he looks with curiosity at me. He blinks, and starts to smile as well. Slowly, a strange kind of expression forms in his face. I also doubted that the animatronics can smile, till now.

Is Golden Freddy even an animatronic after all? He does things the others can't, and he doesn't move the same way.

My gaze turns from a simple smile to a surprised look. I slowly get up and very carefully extend my arm towards Golden Freddy's snout. Then, his 'smile' disappears and starts to growl. I get nervous for a second, but instead of attacking me on any way, Golden Freddy flies as he can towards the other side of the cove as I watch, amused because of his incredibly not-hostile behavior. Any of the animatronics would have killed me already if I ever tried to touch them, especially Freddy.

I follow him carefully so he doesn't spot me. Golden Freddy lands on the ground in a rough way as he can't fly properly. He looks up at a bird chirping on a tree branch. It flies away, and Golden Freddy watches it with envy. It must be a hard hit for him, seeing that bird flying freely while he's trapped in here. When I'm close to him, the bird flies above me, and that's how Golden Freddy spots me. This wasn't what I had in mind, I wanted to stay unnoticed. But well, I have to take advantage of any chance I get.

So, I just lift up my hand, saying 'hi there' inside. Golden Freddy narrows his eyes in an annoyed way and his ears go down. He turns his back to me, now letting me clearly see the damaged fin. It's completely ripped off, like it was never there. I take two short steps towards him and slowly extend my arm. In less than a second, Golden Freddy looks back at me. I quickly walk away, awkwardly trying to act like I wasn't doing anything.

_POV - Anonymous_

Annoyed by Mike's persistent attitude, Golden Freddy walks away.

He later wakes up hanging upside-down from a tree branch at almost nighttime. Its eyes suddenly widen when he sees Mike sitting on a rock with a stick on his hand. Curiosity invades Golden Freddy, making him walk towards Mike to see what he's doing.

_POV – Mike_

I can't still believe I've been here the whole day. Taking aside the thoughts that have been around my mind, I simply start drawing random lines in the mud with a small stick. Suddenly, it occurs to me a great idea: draw Golden Freddy. As I start the drawing, I hear footsteps right behind me. I know it's him, so I act like I didn't notice him and keep drawing. Maybe this will show him I'm not a threat.

_POV - Anonymous_

Golden Freddy watches the movements of the stick. His ears slightly pull back as he purrs. Golden Freddy looks behind and walks towards a tree branch.

_POV – Mike_

I hear Golden Freddy walking away. At first I give it no importance, but the sound of a tree branch being ripped off awakens my curiosity. I look over my shoulder, and see the animatronic dragging a branch on its mouth all over the ground. Straight lines, swirls, circles… Every kind of figure. He's definitely drawing something.

Hold on a second. Drawing? The animatronics are intelligent enough to draw?

Golden Freddy stops as he looks at the ground, then at me, then back at the ground, making a dot this time. After this, he continues making random lines around me. He drops the branch and nods at his… creation? When I look around I just see scrabbles all over. But still it's amusing how he 'imitated' me. Wait, if he imitated me, then this mess of lines is supposed to be _me_?

I start walking around, taking a good look, when Golden Freddy suddenly grunts. I almost jump, and look down, seeing that I stepped on one of the lines of his 'drawing'. I lift my foot up, and Golden Freddy stops his sudden angry expression turns to a smile and its growl turns to a purr.. Just to make sure that's the reason of why he got angry, I step again on the same line. Sure enough, he changes to the same angry expression. I lift up my foot and he turns happy again. Not knowing why, I step on it again, but immediately stop, knowing that annoy Golden Freddy that much could drive me into a problem. This time, I step over the line, and smile at him.

I start walking through the drawing, only looking at the ground to avoid stepping on any other lines. I spin around and around and around, trying not to step on any line of this maze. As I wander awkwardly, I feel a warm stream of air behind me. Slowly, I turn around, seeing that Golden Freddy is behind me, with that expectant look on his face. Its ears twitch very, very slightly and it growls, but not in a menacing way, more like in a calm one. I try to touch him again, but he moves his head away, grunting lowly, but not flying away. I can easily tell he's not sure about this. I finally have to show him that I trust him. And there's only one way to do that. I close my eyes and look away, as I carefully extend my hand and let Golden Freddy do whatever he wants with it.

_POV – Anonymous_

Golden Freddy's eyes widen at Mike's action as he snorts. He could kill him right now, or just bite off his hand as a payback for his missign fin. After some seconds of thinking, Golden Freddy finally decides to trust the guard. He closes his eyes and puts his snout on Mike's hand.

_POV – Mike_

I try to avoid looking at Golden Freddy as soon as I feel a warm fur touch in my palm. Carefully, I look back at him. Golden Freddy opens his eyes and slightly backs up, looking at my hand and then at me. I think he's frowning. He closes her eyes and shakes his head, snorting. In a second, Golden Freddy spreads his remaining fin and flies away. I don't even bother looking at him, I just focus on my palm. A million questions wander through my head right now. But there's only one I want to be answered: why did he really trust me?


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: See you tomorrow**

* * *

_POV - Mike_

It's nighttime. Larry and the rest of the class went to one of the tall towers were we place the bola launchers, so I decide to go with them. Larry is telling the story of how he lost his hand and his leg. Like if I want to hear it. Because I already did, lots and lots of times.

"And in one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole!" Larry tells the class in a serious tone to dramatize things a little. "And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious! He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a minute before another one of them took my leg!"

All the boys except me and Astrid let out amazed gasps.

"Isn't weird to think that your hand was inside an animatronic?" Eric asks. "Like if your mind was still in control of it and you could fight it from the inside?"

Okay, what is he talking about? Eric is the brains of the group, but sometimes his theories just don't make any sense. The twins look at him weirdly, like they always do, and Astrid gives him an amazed expression. Amazed because that theory is just ridiculous, of course. She never admired any of Eric's ideas. Neither did I.

"I swear I'm so _angry _right now!" James grunts. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every animatronic I fight." he promises Larry ridiculously. It's not like we can do that anyways. "With my face." he adds, now sounding like an idiot. Oh, wait. He _always _sounds like an idiot.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm, no" Larry denies. "It's the legs and possibly wings what you want. If it can't move, it can't get away. A downed animatronic is a defeated animatronic."

All the class nod in agreement. Suddenly, something comes across my mind like an arrow. Downed… flight… defeated… Oh no. I realize that if someone gets to the cove and finds Golden Freddy, he'll need help! After this, Larry stands up with a yawn.

"Alright, I'm off to bed. You should be too, tomorrow we get to the big boys. Slowly, but surely making our way off to Freddy. But, who will win the honor of fighting him?" he says as the boys mumble things to each other.

"It's gonna be me!" Jacob says reliantly as I stand up. "It's my destiny, see?" he shows something to the class, but I don't see it as I quietly walk towards the stall.

_POV – Astrid_

Low footsteps are heard, thing that drives me out of my thoughts for tomorrow's strategy on the arena. I look around, and see Mike running down the stairs. As weird as he is, though, I don't pay any attention to him. I just see where he's going. He must be going to his house, so why bother anyways?

_POV – Mike_

Without awakening any suspicions, I get to the stall, dissimulating going home just in case any of the guys noticed I was leaving. I walk over the desk and pull out the drawing of Golden Freddy, this time adding the missing fin. This is very important, as I have to make an exact copy of the original fin. It has three metal wires crossing it, so I must make them accordingly. But these also need to be retractable, so I'm going to need some complex parts from the backstage, although I really hate being there.

Now on the dimensions. If I get this wrong, well, everything will be ruined. The fins, as I remember, go from below the arms towards the waist. From there they get wider. The fins also have the form of a bat's wing. Okay, got it. I know how to do that. This is not going to be exactly easy, but hey, I'll have to give it a try. Another thing I must do before getting into the real work is draw a real sized fin so I can get the proper things. To have a better view of the scale, I think on the following: Golden Freddy is as tall as Freddy, so they both are a few feet taller than me. If the fins go from the midsection towards the waist, then they are almost as long as my whole body but without counting the legs. That's it.

Later on I figured that the metal wires that hold the fins and make them open or close need ball-and-socket joints. Not really hard to find. The original fin is mostly made with leather, so I must attach it with the metal bars. That will not be complicated. Then I'll have to model the leather till it has the proper form. Easy, I'll just need some scissors. I've done this before this way.

I modeled the burning metal bars with a hammer and then put them into the water. Carefully I grab the mid one and place it on the general drawing. Perfect. Alright, one done. Now with the others.

After having the wires done, I go for the following step: hold together the joints. For that I'll need some parts of the shields in the armory, mostly the screws. This is going to take a while.

I shape the screws I got from the shields, and afterwards, start fashioning some metal ball bearings. I test their weight, their form, their condition, and after all that, place them on their respective spots.

I get a good sheet of leather in the backstage. This will work perfectly. I cut off any spare area and leave it on the desired form. I sew the leather to itself on either side of each crossing beam. Now this is it. Perfect. I hold the final result in front of me as I look at the general drawing, and nod as I close the fin. The joints move fluidly, I've never been so proud of myself.

* * *

It's morning already. Even though I could barely sleep this night, I'm way too anxious to test my new invention that I don't care about it. I hurry to the cove. Goldie, as I decided to nickname him, is in the shore of the lake, attentively staring at something in the water.

What could it be?

I carefully get closer. I see some bubbles in the water, right on the spot Goldie is looking at. I get next to him cautiously. We still haven't made a _real _bond, and I'm still afraid he can change his mind at any moment. Now I see what that mysterious thing is, just a simple eel. It's there, dead, floating in the surface. I pick it up from the tail and show it to Goldie so he knows what it was. I doubt he's ever seen an eel anyways. As I hold it in front of me, he suddenly makes a desperate hiss as he backs away from the eel. Maybe he did see some.

"No, no, no, no! It's okay." I say, trying to calm him down, as I toss the eel far away from the shore. "Yeah, I don't really like eel much either." I tell him as I clean the water off my hand with my shirt. Goldie shakes his head and closes his eyes. He must want to take a… nap? Really, how many human-like things is he capable of doing? He can smile, he can express real emotions, he can mimic things…

Anyways, he's sleeping, so right now I have a perfect opportunity to test the new fin.

"That's it, that's it… You don't mind me… I'll just be back here, doing my own business…" I whisper as I very, very carefully walk behind Goldie. When I'm close enough to the spot of the missing fin, I put the new one. I just noticed there's some kind of groove, especially made for the fin. Carefully, I engage it. Hey, it actually fits well. Looks like I got the correct measure. What a relief.

_POV – Anonymous_

Mike turns around and picks up his sketchbook, still holding the tip of the prosthetic fin. Golden Freddy seems to notice the new fin. He makes a test movement with his good fin, and then his eyes widen as he makes a surprised grunt noise. As soon as he finally gets clear that his missing fin is now back on place, the other fin slowly spreads up.

_POV – Mike_

All of a sudden, I feel being lifted up from the ground in less than a second, screaming as I hold myself to the prosthetic fin. I must've accidentally awakened Goldie, and he must've noticed my action.

"Woah! No no no no!" I scream as I hold to the fin to avoid a rough fall. I look at the prosthesis, but it's flapping in the air uselessly.

Whoops, silly me. Of course, the fin wouldn't move on its own.

Goldie stops in mid air for a brief second, and then he starts falling, the control of his flight being lost again. I manage to reach up for the prosthetic fin and spread it. It seems to work, as Goldie gains altitude just before smashing on the ground.

"Oh my- it's working!" I yell triumphantly. I can't believe this is really working. I'll have to find a way to make the fins have more movements, or else it will just be able to make Goldie fly straightly. I pull up the fin and Goldie turns to the cove. He starts soaring above the water.

"Yes, yes I did it!" I say as I take a good look to my invention. Goldie looks at behind. He does a violent tight turn that sends me off him. I fall so hard to the water that I even bounce like a stone.

_POV – Anonymous_

Golden Freddy looks behind and sees the prosthetic fin flapping in the air. Without control, he falls directly to the water. From the other side of the lake, Mike yells, "Yeah!" happily, like he just did something to be proud of. In fact, he did.

* * *

_POV - Mike_

"Today, is about teamwork!" Larry shouts as a door opens, spreading grey fog all over the arena. That's just to make things worse. Now that I notice, he didn't tell us which animatronic we're learning to fight now.

"Foxy is _extra _tricky. One wrong choice, and you'll manage to get him angry. His right eye is very fragile. As soon as you see him with his eye patch lifted up, use your buckets!" he tells us. Foxy? Already? So soon? Isn't this going to be way too dangerous? Me and Eric walk in circles with buckets full of water on our hands as we lose visual contact with the rest, thanks to that annoying fog.

"Razor-sharp, serrated teeth that you must have in mind. Prefers ambush attack, attacking his victims-" Eric starts, thing that's actually scaring me.

"Could you please stop that?" I snap tensely. From an unknown part of the ring, I hear James's voice.

_POV – James_

This stupid fog made me and Jacob lose sight of the others. "If that fox shows his face" I say, "I'm gonna- there!"

As soon as I see a figure which appears to have pointy ears, me and Jacob throw the water off our buckets to it. I hear a scream, but it sounds like Astrid and Jasmine's.

"It's _us_, idiots!" Jasmine says annoyed, appearing from inside the fog cloud. Oh, it was just her cap.

"Your butts are getting bigger. We thought you were an animatronic." Jacob teases, chuckling.

"Not that there's anything wrong… with such figure-" Suddenly Astrid punches me on the face, and Jacob's sister throws him her bucket. Then, he's pulled into the fog as he screams like a crybaby. I also hear snarls.

"Wait!" Astrid says to Jasmine when she tries to follow her brother. Suddenly, both of them get tripped by a furry red tail.

_POV – Mike_

Jacob suddenly appears running away from the fog, knocking over his sister.

"I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" he shouts, terrified.

"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now." Eric mutters. Right in front both of us, Foxy appears, snarling. He comes closer to Eric, who's trembling in panic. He throws Foxy the water in his bucket, but I don't know why he did it while the eye patch wasn't lifted up. Foxy starts to snarl lowly as the patch now lifts up.

"Oh, heh, wrong moment." Eric mutters nervously, only to get roared in the face. He screams and runs away to whoever knows where.

"Eric!" Larry yells as he listens at Eric's girly scream. After scaring him off, Foxy turns his attention on the only target nearby, me.

"Now, Mike!" Larry shouts. I empty the bucket, but the water falls not even a meter away from me.

"Oh, come on" I mutter. Will something ever go the way I planned it to? Foxy roars at me and I trip thanks to this extremely annoying wet floor.

"Mike!" Larry yells worriedly, trying to warn me. But looks like is not necessary. Foxy notices the eel hidden behind my coat, and starts to back up, either terrified or disgusted. I'm guessing animatronics do not like eels.

"Back! Back!" I shout, acting like the animatronic was afraid of me. I keep making him back up till he's again behind the door. "Don't make me tell you again. Yes, that's right. Back in your cage."

Making sure no one notices, I grab the eel and throw it next to Foxy. "Now think about what you've done" Said this, I close the door. When I turn around, _everyone, _even Larry, stare at me mouth-opened. Eric even lets his bucket fall. "So… are we done? Cause I have some things I've got to… yep, s- see you tomorrow!" I say as I get out the arena.

* * *

In the stall, I make a stronger support for the new fin so it stays on its respective place.

* * *

Back in the cove, I show Goldie the supports. But by knowing him, he's not going to put it easy. Goldie starts running from one side to the cove to another, making happy noises as I try to reach for him.

* * *

The first attempt on riding Goldie is not really working. I attached a rope to the fin so I can move it manually without having to be clutching on it. I lift up the rope, but the fin makes a strange movement and makes us both fall.

* * *

I tie on my foot a stronger rope from a bola. This might work. I attach it to the fin and start flying above a grassy field. Goldie is going really fast and I'm not able to put the fin in the correct position on time, and we both crash into the grass. I hear a purring sound, and so I look where Goldie fell. I see him rolling on the ground, apparently enjoying the touch of the grass. I take a handful of it.

* * *

In the arena we are fighting against Bonnie again. He pushes away one of the guys, I did not notice who as I was centered of the handful of grass I took yesterday. Bonnie glares at me and runs towards me. Looking away, I extend the arm with the grass. The animatronic suddenly looks to be calmed and happy. I stroke the handful of grass on his snout, and the at-first-aggressive-rabbit is now a happy animatronic in a complete state of bliss.

* * *

I walk over the walkway that conducts to the ring, being questioned over and over again by the teens.

"Oh I left my axe back in the ring." I say as an excuse as I turn around, pretending to go to the arena. I pass right in front of Astrid. "You guys go ahead; I'll catch up with you!"

* * *

I start scratching Goldie's back on the spot where I was. After finding a 'special' spot near his neck, her eyes widen and he stumbles to the ground in pure satisfaction. I look at my hand and smile.

* * *

In the arena, we are pit against Chica once again, but this time without the walls. Astrid tries to attack her with her axe, but Chica reacts quickly and throws the weapon away. She runs towards me, but she stops. I must be on the blind spot. Suddenly, I hear a battle scream. Astrid charges back towards Chica, and I proceed to scratch that special spot. She gets Goldie's same reaction, and Astrid, with her axe lifted up, stares at me, exhaling in anger.

* * *

In the dining room, I sit on the table I always sit on. But this time, my class and other workers surround me, asking me questions again. All but Astrid, who hits her drink against the table.

* * *

After a whole day being bombarded with questions, I go back to the cove. My hammer reflects a white light on the ground, which Goldie chases and playfully tries to catch.

* * *

"There goes Foxy again." Larry says, as he opens the door. Jacob laughs.

"Ha! We already-"

All of a sudden, Foxy knocks him over with an annoyed growl. To prevent a serious attack this time, I use the light trick with my shield to drive the fox away from Jacob.

"I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" he screams in pain. Foxy chases the light and gets back to the enclosure.

"Wow, he's better than you ever were." Jacob says to Astrid while standing up.

* * *

_POV – Astrid_

I went to the woods to be alone for a time. I just keep throwing my axe to every single tree I see in pure anger. When I'm about to throw it again, I see Mike staring nervously at me. He's wearing an odd harness instead of his guard uniform, and carrying some stuff on his hands. He quickly walks away as I follow him. I peek over a rock, but he disappeared. _Where did he go?, _I thought, hitting the rock with my fist._  
_

* * *

_POV – Mike_

I tied Goldie with a rope to a stump to practice the flight without falling. On his back again, I move the rope attached to the prosthesis to try the different positions and their effects. I draw each one on a cheat sheet as Goldie lands carefully. After having it done, he spreads his good fin and soars again, but a sudden strong wind makes us both fly back and crash, as it untied the rope. Talking about ropes, the one that attached me to Goldie cannot be untied.

"Oh, great." I mutter.

* * *

At nighttime, Goldie and me sneak up around the restaurant's surroundings. Goldie hides behind a house as another night guard passes by and greets me. I smile and wave. Right then, we both enter Larry's stall. Making sure no one is there, I enter. I hear the sound of something falling to the ground, so Goldie must have knocked something over. While I'm trying to untie the rope, I hear Astrid's voice from the outside.

"Mike? Are you in there?" she asks.

I burst out the window, the rope still attached to Goldie, but I try to dissimulate it. "Astrid, hey! Hi, Astrid, hi Astrid, hi Astrid." I say awkwardly.

"I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird." she points out. Goldie pulls me back with the rope.

"Well… weird-er…" she continues.

Then, Goldie starts to lift me up from the ground, then pulls me inside the window. Right before Astrid could see us, I carefully perch over Goldie's back and fly away being unnoticed.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8 – Test Drive**_

* * *

_POV - Larry_

Jack and the others finally returned. The only thing is that the crew seems to be seriously injured, and many people have gashes and broken clothes.

"Well, I trust that you found where they go, at least?" I ask.

"Not even close!" Jack replies in a deep voice. "I hope you had a little more success than me…"

"Well if by success you mean that your parenting troubles are over with, then… yes" I reply, right when the people that arrived to entrance of the restaurant stop by.

"Congratulations, Jack. Everyone is _so _relieved." a woman says.

"Out with the old and in with the new, right?" another guy says as he walks past us.

"No one will miss that old nuisance!"

"The whole staff is throwin' a party to celebrate!"

"…he's gone?" Jack asks confused. I'm pretty sure he thinks Mike is gone.

"Err… yeah, most afternoons. But who can blame him? I mean, the life of a celebrity is very rough, he can hardly walk through the building without being swarmed by his new fans." I reply.

"_Mike_?" Jack asks again, still not believing it. I was expecting this anyways. It's not like every day you find out that your scrawny son turned into a celebrity.

"Who woulda thought it, eh? He has his ways with the beasts."

* * *

_POV – Mike_

After some good time of practice, Goldie and I finally left the cove, and we start to fly together above the sea.

"Alright there, bud," I say as I pat Goldie. "We're gonna take this nice and slow." I watch my cheat sheet, attached by a metal clip on Goldie's back right in front of me.

"Okay, here we go, here we go. Position… three- no, four!" I move the foot pedal down, and the rope makes the prosthetic fin spread some more, thing that sends us into a controlled drive. I look back to see that both fins are in the correct position.

"Nice, it's go time, it's go time."

Goldie retracts his good fin and I reflexively retract the prosthetic one, and we start flying closer to the sea. The fins slowly spread again and the good one dips in the water.

"Come on buddy, come on buddy!" I yell in excitement. We fly right under a sea stack, with many seagulls soaring around. I look back at it, smiling.

"Yes, yes it worked!"

This distraction is a problem, though. I didn't adjust the fin on time and Goldie, out of control, hits a rock.

"Sorry." I apologize as Goldie grunts, annoyed. None of us notice that we were getting closer to another rock. I try to stop Goldie from hitting it, but I can't. "That's my fault…"

Goldie whips me with one of his ears.

"Ow! Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."

I adjust the fin again, and I make Goldie gain altitude.

"Yeah! Go baby!" I yell. Now we are flying beyond the clouds, and the view is awesome.

"Yeah! Oh, this is amazing! The wind in my-" suddenly, the cheat sheet slips out of its clip because of the wind. "-CHEAT SHEET! STOP!"

Goldie stops in mid-air as I manage to get the sheet back, but then I realize that I never stopped Goldie in mid-air. I slip off his back and we both start to fall without control.

"Oh gosh! Oh Gods! Oh no!" I scream in fear. Goldie screams as well.

"Alright! Okay, y- you've gotta kinda- angle yourself!" I tell Goldie, who's spinning uncontrollably, trying to get balance back.

"No, no! Come back towards me! Come back towar- yeow!" One of his hands whips me in the face when he gets closer to me, thing that actually _hurts_. But finally, Goldie manages to get close enough for me to get on his back again and put my foot on the pedal. With the cheat sheet on my mouth, I pull back with all my strength. Everything is so fast; at first the ground looks so small that it appears to be the smallest thing in the world, one second later we are flying above a forest. Goldie spreads his fin and I spread the prosthetic one, making us soar at a still outstanding speed, almost touching the treetops. Goldie screams in fear, louder each second. I pull out the sheet off my mouth, but the wind of the fall is way too strong and the sheet is flapping too much for me to see it.

I look at front, and see that we are approaching a pile of rocks covered with fog. I throw away the sheet and let my instinct act. It's now or never. At the same speed we were falling, Goldie and I dodge all the rocks. I move the pedal and the rope and adjust the fin right on time once and once again. I adjust it in a way I never tried before, making the fin move down. This causes Goldie to spin around. Finally, we exit the horrible rock maze.

"Yeah!" I shout triumphantly, not only because I managed to stay alive, but because I managed to fly with Goldie without reading the cheat sheet. When I look at front, I notice that we are approaching a group of flocking birds that are coming directly at us.

"Come on…" I say, frustrated.

* * *

With my face covered in feathers, I just sit down and watch the sunset from a rocky beach. Meanwhile, Goldie seems to be sleeping under a tree near me. Then, we both notice burning ashes falling to the ground. We are near the fields, and someone must be burning something. Goldie looks with curiosity at a flaming shrapnel, and accidentally swallows it. He shakes his head as his eyes widen, and spits out the ash.

"Huh, not so fireproof on the inside, are ya?" I say to him with a soft voice. Goldie walks next to me and I stroke his head gently.

"All we knew about you, guys… is wrong." I realize out loud.

* * *

I fiddle with my pencil back on the stall, bored, without knowing what to do. All of a sudden, the door smashes against the wall when Jack opens it.

"Dad!" I yell in surprise for such sudden entrance. "You're back!"

Nervously but dissimulating, I try to hide all the papers and drawings of Goldie. "Larry is not here, so…"

"I know. I came looking for you." Dad says severely.

"Y- you did?"

"You've been keeping secrets…"

Oh no. This isn't good. Has he secretly discovered Goldie?

"I, I- I have-?"

"How long did you think you could hide it from me?"

"I- I don't know-"

"_Nothing _happens on this restaurant without me hearing about it."

"Oh?"

"So… Let's talk, about that animatronic."

I'm about to faint. He knows it. He discovered it. Oh man, how am I going to explain him that I befriended an animatronic? And Golden Freddy at that! What will my father say?

"Oh, Gods. Dad, I'm so sorry! I was going to tell you I just didn't know how to-" suddenly, Jack's laugh interrupts me. Why is he laughing? Is it funny for him that I became friends with the enemy or something?

"You- you're not upset?"

"What? I was hoping for this!" he says without stopping his laughter. Okay, now _this _was strange. Or… maybe he doesn't actually know what I think he knows…

"Uh… you were?"

"And believe me! It only gets better! Just wait until you get involved in a real fight! What a feeling, you really had me going there, son!" he smacks me on the shoulder which such force that it sends me against the wall. He's talking about my 'success' on the Animatronic Training arena, fortunately.

"All those years of the worst night guard Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has ever seen. God, it was rough. I almost gave up on you! And all the while you were holding it on me, oh dear!" He sits down in a stool. "With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about."

I just stand there, not knowing what to say. Dad pulls the stool closer to me. I'm about to tell him the truth, but I better keep it for myself. Telling him about Goldie is not going to work, he'll be angry, he'll say that animatronics are the enemy and everything will end very wrong, not to say that if I tell my secret to Jack, Goldie will see me as a traitor. I don't want that to happen. Not after everything we've been through.

"Oh…" Dad says, disappointed of my silence. "I- I brought you something. To keep you safe in the ring." he picks up a collar.

"Wow… thanks." is the only thing I'm able to say as I touch the cold metal of an adornment in the necklace.

"Your mother would have wanted you to have it." Dad says calmly. "Matching set." Jack says, signaling his necklace hidden underneath his shirt. "Keeps her close, you know? Wear it proudly. You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal." he concludes.

After all this entire situation, I need to think of an excuse. I fake a yawn.

"I should really go to bed."

"Err, yes. Good! Okay! Good talk!" Dad starts awkwardly. "See you back at the house."

"Thanks for stopping by- And for the… uh…. necklace."

"The necklace, well-" while walking backwards, Jack's head hits the wooden ceiling. "Err, good night." he squeezes through the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Right now, I'm really worried about the Animatronic Training arena. What if I win? It will only get me in trouble.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Romantic flight**

* * *

_POV - Mike_

Today is the exam to determine who will fight against Freddy. Our opponent is Bonnie once again, and I'm here with Astrid. She's pretty angry right now. The entire crew of workers is watching us, and makes me nervous. This time, the arena is covered by wooden barriers. Astrid rolls behind the one I'm hiding on.

"Stay out of my way! I'm winning this thing." she says with a mad glare. She runs towards another barrier, closer to the animatronic, who's looking for us. I peek over the barrier, and see Jack observing me. He smiles and gives me a proud look, but I'm not proud of myself right now, so I just fake a smile.

_POV – Astrid_

I roll behind the closest barrier to Bonnie. "This time, this time for sure!" I say to myself in a chance to get some reliance. With no time to lose, I leap over the barrier with a battle cry, my axe lifted up. Then, I stop abruptly when I see Bonnie out cold in the ground and Mike next to him. No… this can't-

Blinded my anger, my arms swing the axe all over. "No! No, son of a half troll- rat eating- munch bucket!"

_POV – Mike_

Suddenly, I feel like I should be going by now. Just out of fear, not only because of Astrid's uncontrollable anger, but because it came to my mind that I didn't think about what would be Jack's reaction when I tell him that we don't have to fight the animatronics.

"So… later-" I say, but as I'm about to leave, Larry yanks me back with his hook and drags me back to my spot, next to Astrid.

"Not so fast."

"I'm kinda late for-"

"_What_? Late for _what_, exactly?" Astrid shouts in anger with her axe dangerously close to my neck.

"Alright, quiet down!" Jack announces. "My mother has decided."

Oh yeah, my grandma. She's the one who tells who goes to the last fight. Larry points with his hook at Astrid. For everyone's surprise and for my sudden horror, the elder shakes her head in denial and takes a look of disapproval on Astrid. Larry then points at me with the good hand. Grandma signals at me, smiling and nodding. I hear Astrid's breathing becoming louder like she's about to explode. Before I can say a word, though, the workers yell in excitement.

"You've done it! You get to fight Freddy!" Larry shouts. Eric hoists me up and the guys in my class follow us and give me cheers.

"That's my boy!" I hear Jack shout.

"Oh, yeah, yes! I can't wait. I am so-"

* * *

"Leaving." I tell Goldie even if I don't know in which part of the cove he is. "Let's pack up! Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation. Forever."

I prepare things in a basket. I stand up slowly, and then a sharp noise awakens my curiosity. When I look up, I see Astrid sharpening her axe with a small rock, sitting on a boulder right in front of me. Shocked, I back up. I trip on a small stone and almost fall.

"What the- Uh, oh, what are you doing here…?"

"I want to know what's going on." Astrid says calmly, lifting up her axe and letting the stone she was sharpening it with slip off her hand. She comes down the boulder and points her weapon at me menacingly.

"No one just gets as good as you do. _Especially _you. Start talking!" I try to explain something to her, but I just mumble things. I thought she wanted me to explain something, but she keeps talking and talking. "Are you training with someone?"

"Um, training…?"

"It better not involve _this._" she says as she grabs my harness and slightly lifts it up.

"I- I know, this looks _really_ bad, but you see. This is, um…" A tree breaking in the distance cuts me off and makes Astrid start to advance deeper in the cove. She gasps and throws me to the ground. I have to think of something and now. I'm pretty sure Goldie knows Astrid is here.

"You're right! You're right! I'm through the lies. I've been making… outfits!" I grab her arm and put it in the harness. "So… you got me. It's time everyone knew. Drag me back, go ahead, here we go-" Astrid twists my arm around, pushing me to the ground. "Why would you _do _that?" I say, pained.

"That's for the lies. And this…" she lets the butt of her axe fall on my belly. "…for everything else."

Suddenly, another sound, louder than the other one, scares Astrid.

"Oh, man…" I mutter. Goldie, who's on the other side of the cove, spotted Astrid.

"Get down!" Astrid screams as she pushes me to the ground along with her. Goldie growls and runs directly towards us. Towards Astrid. She gets up and grabs her axe as she yells, "Run! Run!"

She lifts up her axe when Goldie comes out from behind a rock, prepared for a fight.

"No!" I shout, pushing Astrid out of the way before Goldie could reach out for her. I turn around.

"No, it's okay, it's okay." I tell both Goldie and Astrid as I kick the axe away. "She's a friend."

This momentarily calms down Goldie. "You just scared him." I explain to Astrid.

"I scared _him?" _Astrid asks, completely scared. Then, she suddenly stops. "Who… is _him?"_

"Astrid, Goldie. Goldie… Astrid."

Goldie gives a grunt-hiss to Astrid, who shakes her head, and runs towards the restaurant.

"Dat-da-dah, we're dead." I groan. I hear Goldie huff and walk away. "Woah woah woah woah, where do you think you're going?"

_POV – Astrid_

I hurry through the woods. I can't believe what Mike just did. He _befriended _and _trained _the animatronic we've been looking for all those past years. He's gonna have a good one, because I'm going to tell the whole staff about this, and to his father. I jump off a big log, when I feel myself being lifted up from the ground.

I scream as I desperately shout, "Oh my God, oh this is it." Said this, I just scream like I never did before. Mike and that golden bear fly towards a tall tree, on which I am dropped. Mike and his 'friend' land on the top, making the tree bend.

"Mike!" I shout. "Get me _down_ from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain!"

"I am not listening to _anything _you have to say!"

"Then I won't speak! Just let me show you… Please, Astrid."

I just want to get down from this tree. I'm not going to let Mike keep that animatronic as a secret to everyone. I pull myself up to the branch and walk closer to Mike and the bear, who doesn't seem to like my presence. It growls as I get closer, making me briefly stop. I get to their side.

"Now get me down." I tell Mike, looking at the far ground.

"Goldie, down. _Gently." _Mike tells the animatronic as he pats his head. It spreads its fin and Mike spreads the other one, which looks different. They catch a soft wind. I grab Mike's hand, just to not fall. "See? Nothing to be afraid of." he assures me.

Suddenly, Golden Freddy uses the tree as a springboard and shoots up to the sky at the most outstanding speed I've ever felt.

"Goldie! What is wrong with you?" Mike yells at the out of control animatronic. It stops the sudden and dangerous flight. "He's not usually like this..." Mike assures me again. I hold to his back and relearn how to breathe. I'm glad this ended.

Golden Freddy then retracts one of his fins, making us fall upside-down. I talked too soon. I scream as we fall even faster than before. The animatronic smashes once to the water. Then twice. At the third time Mike tries to stop it. "Goldie what are you doing we need her to like us!" Mike yells quickly, trying to convince the animatronic. But it won't stop. The golden bear shoots up to the sky again. When we are beyond the clouds, it start spinning around.

"And now the spinning." Mike says frustrated as I continue to scream. "Thank you for nothing, you useless bear."

After this, Golden Freddy gives up on flying and starts to free-fall.

"Okay, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!" I cry out as I hug Mike and close my eyes. Suddenly, I feel an abrupt stop and the strong wind stops , with a soft one replacing it. I don't dare to open my eyes for such sudden stop. But I do, just to see what happened, and my eyes meet the most beautiful scene I have ever seen. We are now flying under the pink colored clouds. Golden Freddy flies closer to them. In curiosity, I touch them with my hand. I always wanted to touch the clouds, and it's incredible. They are cold and wet.

We keep flying, now having clouds all around us, on every direction. It feels so magical, it's something no worker here ever experienced. And it's all thanks to Mike and his wonderful animatronic. Maybe we all were wrong about them. Golden Freddy begins to slowly fly through the pink clouds. We've been flying for hours, and now it's nighttime. It's then when I see colorful rainbow-alike lights dancing in the sky, mostly green and blue. The aurora borealis. It's beautiful.

Both me and Mike stare in awe at it. I had no idea these animatronics could be befriended and that they could do these things for you. Surfacing from the clouds, I see a whole view of the restaurant at night. I open my mouth in surprise. From this point, it looks so beautiful. Instead of a big building and a lot of houses, it looks like a big rock covered with lots of lights. Golden Freddy looks at me and 'smiles'. I feel a sudden urge to hug Mike right now. And I do it.

"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool." I say as we get away from the restaurant. "It's… amazing. He's amazing." I pat Golden Freddy's head and it looks at me happily.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: The kill ring**

* * *

_POV - Mike_

"So what now?" Astrid asks as we fly peacefully through the night sky. I give her no reply, as I have too many thoughts on my head right now. "Mike, your final exam is _tomorrow_! You know you'll have to fight-" taking in mind that Goldie could hear her and probably get mad yet again, she lowers her tone. "-fight Freddy." she whispers.

"Don't remind me…" I mutter. Suddenly, I hear a strange and echoing buzzing noise, and Goldie flies straight towards the fog that's below us, doing a quick and sharp turn. "Goldie, what's happening? W- what is it?"

He keeps on flying. I can notice he's worried. Something's wrong. All of a sudden, I notice a shadow walking alongside us. I think it's Bonnie. The animatronics must have gotten out again.

"Get down!" I whisper tensely. If the animatronics see us we will be as good as dead. The buzzing gets louder as we keep advancing though the white fog. Chica appears flying by our side, and Goldie gets away so she doesn't notice us. But she's still really close. By the other side, almost running, Foxy goes by and gets closer to Bonnie. I can also see Freddy on the lead.

Astrid hugs me out of fear. "What's going on?" she asks worriedly, trying to talk as low as possible. I'm pretty sure the animatronics won't hear us with this irritant buzzing sound, but it's better to not talk loudly.

"I don't know. Goldie, you have to get us out of here, bud." I tell Goldie while putting my hand on the side of his head, but he shoves it off. It's clear this situation is serious. Definitely something wrong is going on. Goldie doesn't usually act like this when he's with me.

Goldie banks lower into the fog. Astrid is unable to hold her fear, and lets out a brief scream. We continue flying along with Chica, dodging various rocks, meanwhile the rest of animatronics just walk at a fast rhythm.

As we fly, I can notice a huge mountain. I'm pretty sure the animatronics are going there. Could this be… the place where they wander off? Goldie enters the mountain by diving into a big hole on the left side. The inside is completely destroyed, and in the middle of it, an enormous trench is seen. From the far inside of it, a red-orange light rises among the insides of the room. It's either lava or fire.

It illuminates the whole surrounding. Goldie soars above it, looking at all directions nervously. This is without any doubt what my father has been looking for. This _is _the 'secret place' we've been looking for.

"What my Dad wouldn't give to find this…" I mutter. We land on a small part of ground that's still there. From the other side, I can see the four other animatronics, all staring at the hole. Chica flies above it, like looking for something. She looks very tired and flies in an awkward way, like she's not able to hold herself in the air. In an instant, a brief earthquake shakes the mountain, and Chica's eyes open wide at it. She looks down, and-

A gigantic silver dragon's head surfaces from the trench, mouth opened, almost eating the hovering animatronic. The thing has glowing red eyes and a metallic appearance. In fact, it _is _made out of metal. A giant robotic dragon. Perfect, just perfect. Freddy, Bonnie and Foxy watch in horror as Chica hurriedly lands by their side.

"What… is that?" Astrid asks, shocked. As shocked as me, but not as scared as Goldie. Before the dragon returns to its hole, it starts sniffing the air.

"Alright, bud, we've gotta get out of here." I tell Goldie, unable to talk in a slow way. "Now!"

Right before the dragon could reach up for us, Goldie shoots to the sky, straightly directed towards the 'entrance'. The rest of animatronics follow as the mechanical monster tries to reach up for them.

* * *

"No, no! It totally makes sense!" Astrid points out as we go back to the cove. "The animatronics are the workers and that's their leader! It controls them! Let's find your dad!" Before she could get out of the cove, I stop her.

"No, no! Not yet. They'll… they'll do horrible things to Goldie, Astrid. We'll have to think of this carefully."

"Mike, we just found the thing that we've been looking for since we founded this damned restaurant! And you want to keep it as a secret? To protect your pet animatronic, are you serious?"

I stare at her.

"…yes" I mutter, turning around. Astrid wasn't expecting this answer, as I can notice by her expression.

"Okay… So what are you going to do?"

"Just… give me until tomorrow. I'll think of something…"

Then silence. Suddenly, Astrid punches me on the shoulder. "That's for kidnapping me." she says.

I look back at Goldie. He looks disinterested at this, and ignores me. Then, Astrid kisses me on the cheek. "And that's for… everything else." she says softly as she turns around towards the village. I stare at her. When she looks at me, Astrid runs off. I keep staring at her in awe until she's gone. Goldie walks next to me, glaring at me with those white pupils, that turned a little bit bigger.

"Oh w- w- what are you looking at?" I say.

* * *

_POV – Jack_

It's the day I've been waiting for. Everyone is reunited in the Animatronic Training arena, all of them yelling in excitement.

"Well, I can show my face in public again!" I joke, making everyone laugh. "If someone told me that in a short few weeks Mike would go from being… well, Mike, to placing first in Animatronic Training… I would've tied him to a pole and shipped him off, for fear he'd gone mad!" The employees go in turmoil.

I silence them with a gesture of my hand. "But here we are, and no one's more surprised…"

_POV - Mike_

"…or more proud, than I am." Jack concludes. I just stand nervously at the entrance.

"Be careful with that animatronic." Astrid says from behind me, but it's not necessary as I already know how dangerous Freddy is.

"It's not the animatronic what I'm worried about." I say as I look up to where dad is sitting, seeing if Astrid catches what I'm trying to say.

"What are you going to do?"

"Put an end to this. I have to try." I tell Astrid. "Astrid, if something… goes wrong… just make sure they don't find Goldie."

"I will. Just… promise me it won't go wrong."

As soon as I'm about to reply, Larry calls for me. "It's time, Mike. Knock 'em dead"

Slowly, I walk towards the entrance, putting on the collar dad gave me. The gate closes behind me. The whole crew of workers is yelling in excitement. Nervously, I walk to the weapon rack and grab a shield and a small knife.

"I would've picked the hammer." I hear Jack say. I give a long sigh.

"I'm ready…"

The small, wooden pole that locks the door slowly lifts up. In less than a second, the door literally explodes open, revealing a _very _angry Freddy. His eyes are tiny pupils, and I can barely see their blue color. He starts to walk around. Freddy then abruptly stops and glares at me. He starts slowly approaching me, and I slowly back away. I drop my shield, then my knife. I hear the crowd whispering things.

"What is he doing?" Jack mutters.

Freddy continues to advance on me. I slowly extend my arm, hoping for this to be like when I befriended Goldie. "Hey, i- it's okay, it's all okay." I say, trying to calm him down. I stop backing up and carefully grab the collar. I hold it in front of me for some seconds, showing it to Freddy to make sure he knows what I'm doing.

"I'm not one of them." I mutter, throwing away the collar. The people gasp at this. Freddy looks at the necklace, then at me. This is what I wanted to happen; his pupils become round, normal.

"Stop the fight." Jack mutters menacingly.

"No! I shout. "I want you all to see this."

I extend my arm again. Freddy examines it, but not in a hostile way. Not anymore. "They're not what we think they are. We don't have to fight them."

"_I said stop the fight!" _Jack screams, banging his hammer against the metal bars and bending one of them. Startled by the loud noise, Freddy's pupils become tiny dots again. He snaps at my hand, almost biting it off, but in pure fear I run away. Freddy starts chasing me.

_POV – Overview_

At the cove, Mike's scream can still be heard, or at least by Goldie. He looks around with eyes open wide, knowing that his friend is in serious trouble.

"Mike!" Astrid shouts back at the arena. She picks up an axe from the wall, pushes it under the gate and lifts it up. Astrid slides under the small aperture and hurries to help Mike.

Desperately, Goldie tries to get out of the cove. Blinded by the sudden urge to help Mike, he manages to, with a hand, reach out for the entrance.

Mike dodges all Freddy's attacks and heads towards the weapon rack. Before he could grab something, Freddy smashes right through it, shattering it into pieces.

Meanwhile, Goldie runs as fast as he can through the woods, using all his strength and his desire to save Mike to fly up. Mike is all he cares about, and he won't let him die.

Astrid grabs a hammer from the destroyed stack and throws it at Freddy. It hits him on the side of his head, and drives his attention to Astrid. Jack meanwhile lifts up the gate.

"This way!" he shouts. Astrid manages to get in. Jack wraps his arm around her protectively and extends his other arm towards Mike. But then, Freddy blocks his way by getting between him and the entrance. Mike loses balance and turns around, slipping as he does so. He runs to the other side, Freddy following closely.

As he's running for dear life, Mike slips off and falls on his back. Freddy slowly and threateningly approaches, and stares coldly at Mike. Before he could do anything, though, something hits the bars with amazing strength.

_POV – Larry_

I hear a loud grumble as something smashes right through the bars of the arena, but there's too many smoke for me to see anything. When it clears out is when I get surprised.

"Golden Freddy!" is the first thing that comes out of my mouth when I see the responsible of that.

_POV – Mike_

How did Goldie get in here? No, what I care about is not that. It's just incredible that he's _fighting _Freddy only to protect me. Like in my first encounter with him, he's enraged. Freddy tries to reach out for me, but Goldie blocks his way. Goldie roars, making Freddy back up and return to the enclosure, clearly terrified. Goldie snorts and becomes 'normal' again when I walk over him.

"Okay, Goldie, now go!" I say, pushing him to try and make him leave. The workers start running towards us, making Goldie growl lowly. "Go! Go!" I beg.

Jack grabs an axe and charges at Goldie. For my horror, his pupils become slits.

"No dad, he won't hurt you!" I yell at my father, but it's to no avail. Goldie effortlessly beats all the warriors that get too close to him and makes his way towards Jack.

"You're only making it worse!" I yell, both at my dad and at Goldie. None of them listen to me. Goldie knocks over Jack and looks at him the same way Freddy did when he was about to kill me.

"NO!" I cry out. Goldie finally hears me this time, and stops his glare that was going to end on an impending attack. He looks at me, with confusion and sadness on his eyes. Within a second, a man hits Goldie with an iron bar, leaving him stunned. A bola then hits him, and more workers surround him. I try to go and help him, but Astrid holds me back.

"No! Please, just don't hurt him!" I beg. "Don't hurt him…" I repeat in the lowest tone I've ever spoken.

A man offers Jack an axe, but he refuses it. "Put it with the others." He orders angrily.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Yes, as you may have noticed, the Red Death in this story is an OC. It's just that, for those who found it weird. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Battling the Red Death**

* * *

_P__OV – Mike_

Dad shoves me inside the dining room, full of anger. "I should have known. I should have seen the signs." he mutters.

"Dad-"

"We had a deal!" he shouts.

"I know we did- but that was before- oh, it's all so messed up!" I say, rubbing my hair, too nervous and scared to speak with clarity. I have _way_ too many things to tell, it's impossible for me to explain. Dad won't believe me, no matter what I say. But I have to try.

"So everything on the ring. A trick? _A lie."_

"I screwed up.I should've told you before now. Take this out on me. Be mad at me. But please… Just don't hurt Goldie." I beg, trying my best to make Jack change his ideas.

"The animatronic? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?" he yells.

"He was just protecting me! He's not dangerous!"

"They've killed hundreds of us!"

"And we've disturbed and changed _all _of them!" This makes Jack think for a moment. "They defend themselves, that's all. They raid us because they have to! They're just following orders! There's… something else on their hide place-"

"Their hide place? So you've been to there…"

"Did I say hide place?-"

"_How_ did you find it?"

"I- I didn't! Goldie did. Only an animatronic can find the hide place!"

Then, that expression shows up on his face. That expression when he has a dangerous idea that means go against my wishes. And I know exactly what it is.

"Oh, no. Dad, no." Dad ignores me, pushing me aside and walking towards the door. "Dad, it's not what you think! You don't know what you're up against, dad please! I promise that you can't win this one! No! Dad, no!" I run towards him and grab his arm desperately. "_For once in your life_ _could you please just listen to me!?"_

He throws me off his hand, sending me to the ground, and slowly turns to me.

"You've thrown your lot with them. You're not a night guard." he says in a low tone. Then… "You're not my son."

My breathing is about to stop. He didn't just… _disown_ me-

_POV – Jack_

"Get ready!" I shout, slamming the door. Just then, I almost faint for the severity of what I just done. I lose balance for a moment, then walk towards the entrance

* * *

_POV – Overview _

All the employees are prepared at the entrance. Some other workers are waiting for their departure. All the men begin to be loaded with various weapons inside baskets. The last thing that's loaded in a carriage is Goldie, chained to a wooden block and hold down by metal bars covering his midsection, arms and legs, and his side fins chained into two short poles. Maybe in sadness or in fear, Jacks' grandmother pulls the two children that are looking at the scene closer to her.

From afar, Mike watches everything with the most horrible sadness and guiltiness he ever felt.

"Let's get going!" Jack orders.

His gaze comes across his heart-broken son. But even if he's still feeling bad for what he did, he just turns around and walks by the side of Goldie.

"Lead us home. Devil" he mutters. Goldie looks with fury at him for some seconds, before sadness returns to him, making him lower his head.

_POV – Mike_

I just watch the men till they are no longer seen. Everything I wanted is lost, and it's my fault. All my fault.

"It's a mess…" I hear Astrid say. Words don't reach my mouth, I'm not able to reply. "You must feel horrible. You've lost everything: your father, your best friend-"

"Thank you, for summing that up." I say arrogantly, starting to get bothered by Astrid. "Why couldn't I have killed that animatronic when I found him in the woods…" I say, ashamed. Not only by what I said hurt me deep inside, but because it's true, even though I don't want to believe it. "It could've been better, for everyone…"

"Yep, the rest of us would have done it. So why didn't you?" Astrid asks. I give her no reply. "Why didn't you?" she repeats, more concerned about it this time.

"I don't know… I- I couldn't"

"That's not an answer…"

"Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?" I ask, slightly angered.

"Because I want to remember what you say, right now."

"Oh for the love of- I was a coward! I was weak! I couldn't kill an animatronic!"

"You said wouldn't that time."

"Whatever!" I snap in a sudden rage. "I wouldn't! Twenty years and I'm the first night guard who couldn't kill or fight an animatronic!" I say as I turn around.

"First to befriend and ride one, though." Astrid says. It's true. I did what no one ever did, and discovered things no one ever discovered thanks to that. "So…" she continues, waiting for my answer.

"I wouldn't kill him… Because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself…"

"I'll bet he's really frightened now… So what are you going to do?" A plan comes to my mind. Not exactly plan, but an idea.

"I don't know. Probably something stupid."

"Good, but you already did that."

That's when the real plan comes up.

"Then, something crazy!" I say, starting to run towards the arena.

"That's more like it." Astrid says as she begins to follow me.

* * *

_POV – Jack_

We are once again on the fog bank. But this time, we are so many more and we have a guide. I watch at front, trying to spot any signals of the hide place. Larry walks next to me.

"Listen, Jack… I was overhearing some of the men just now and, well, _some_ of them, are wondering what it is we're up to here, n- not me, of course… I know you always the man with the plan, but some- not me, are wondering if there's in fact a plan at all, and, what it might be?"

"Find the hide place and take in."

"Oh, of course. Send them running. The old fallback. Nice and simple-" I hush Larry when I notice Golden Freddy is… sensing something. We must be close. I move towards the carriage. Golden Freddy twitches his ears and moves his head to one direction. Then to another direction. Like it's being forced to lead us to that place.

* * *

_POV – Mike_

I stare nervously at Freddy's enclosure.

"If you're planning on getting killed, I'll definitely go with Bonnie." says a voice behind me. I turn around, and see Eric, Astrid, James and the twins.

"You were wise to seek help from the world's. Deadliest. Weapon." Jacob says, getting closer to me.

"Uh…" I stutter.

"It's me-"

Before he can continue, James pushes him away.

"I, _love _this plan_!" _he yells with an anxious smile.

"I didn't…"

Again, Jasmine pushes him away.

"You're crazy!"

She leans closer to me. "I like that…" she adds in a lower tone. Astrid grabs her helmet and gets her out of the way.

"So? What's the plan?"

I just smile. This is definitely going to work.

* * *

_POV – Jack_

On our long way through the fog, we see a broken carriage hanging from a tall tree branch.

"That's not very encouraging…" someone whispers.

"Ah, I was wondering where that went." Larry says.

Then, Golden Freddy starts getting nervous. A strange buzzing noise is heard.

"Stay low. Ready your weapons." I order as we stop at a rocky shore. We are here. An island-looking place with a huge mountain in the center, surrounded by a red lava circle. I make my way towards the front, and observe the mountain.

"We're here." I mutter. The buzzing immediately stops, making me look around.

* * *

_POV – Mike_

Slowly, I lead Freddy out of the enclosure, my palm outstretched. Now that there isn't any threat here, he seems to be calm.

_POV – Astrid_

All the class seems to be enjoying this. Eric and Jasmine watch amazed, Jacob grins with excitement, James… is scared? Well, that's new. Maybe he's too scared, as he grabs a broken spear. I slap his arm.

"Uh-uh."

He puts down the weapon. Now, Mike leads the animatronic right towards us. Towards James, actually.

_POV – Mike_

I grab James' arm.

"Wait, what are you-" he protests as he pulls away his arm. I silence him, then Freddy gives him a short snort. He better doesn't do any stupidity. I grab his arm again.

"It's okay, it's okay." I tell him, extending his arm. I place it near Freddy's snout, and he pulls it closer to his hand. James looks at front, now laughing with joy. I walk towards a wooden box I found on the stall. It has pretty interesting tools that really amazed me.

"Where you going?" James asks, once again, scared. I rummage the box, and find some ropes and the things that surprised me: some kind of jetpacks. We will have to fly, and these little things will help the animatronics with that.

"You're gonna need something to help you hold on." I say as I pick up the ropes. All the guys look at the doors, and see the animatronics out, looking expectantly at them.

* * *

_POV – Jack_

All weapons are set up. Me and some of the men watch a battle plan traced in the sand.

"When these walls break open, all hell is probably going to break loose." I warn them.

"And my undies! Good thing I brought extras." Larry says mockingly.

"No matter how it ends, it ends today!" I say loudly for all the men to hear. I lift up my hand, and signal the bola launchers to fire. They hit the walls of the mountain, making an opening. I walk towards the entrance and stop in front of the dark tunnel. There's no light. No sound. Nothing. I signal the bola launchers with my axe. One of them fires a burning payload that soars deep inside into the opening, illuminating the inside.

There's silence for a moment, right before a deafening roar is heard from the insides of the mountain. A roar so strong that its wind is able to push us a few feet away. Then, the walls and the ground start to crack, making an earthquake around the beach. I open my eyes wide.

"Oh my God, what is that?" Larry asks shocked as I run towards him, right when a _colossal _and metallic dragon bursts from the mountain. Its snout is long and fine, with lots of sharp teeth coming out of it. Its eyes are a pure red. Its body is gigantic and wide. It has four legs, which end on four fingers with long, fine and curved claws. The tip of its tail is a massive mace.

"God help us…" is all I can say, my eyes open wide again. I look at the beast as it comes out, roaring. "Bola launchers!" I yell. The weapons score direct hits at the robotic dragon's head, but they make no single effect. The dragon bites a line of well placed bola launchers, destroying them completely.

"Get to the forest!" a man shouts, running towards a hill where we let some other weapons and that cursed animatronic.

"No, no!" I yell, predicting the beast's next move. Sure enough, and with no possible explanation, the dragon breathes a stream of fire at the forest. The men manage to jump out of it before they get burned.

"Smart, that one." Larry says as he walks up to me. Suddenly, Mike's words flash through my head.

'_There's something more on their hide place. Dad, I promise that you can't win this one! You don't know what you're up against!'_

"I was a fool." I say after remembering these words. I should've listened. "Lead the men to the far side of the place!" I order one of the workers. "Larry, go with the men!"

"I think I'll stay, just in case you were thinkin' of doing something crazy." he says.

"I can buy a few minutes if I give that thing something to hunt!"

Before leaving, Larry grabs my forearm.

"Then I can double that time."

I smile at him, appreciating his loyalty. We both scream battle cries, and rush towards the robotic dragon, which almost eats a man. I grab a wooden stake from the ground and throw it at the dragon's head. It bounces on it. The creature lowers its head to examine us.

"Fight me!" I yell.

"No, me!" Larry shouts back.

Then, the dragon takes a breath, ready to breathe its unexplainable fire. Before that could happen, though, someone throws a burning payload at its head, making it stop.

From right behind the dragon, I see the animatronics flying around with the jetpacks we had in the stall, and, for my surprise, the teens with them; I can spot Eric with Bonnie, James with Freddy, the twins with Foxy and Astrid and Mike with Chica. I only manage to mouth something that feels like 'what the…'

"Look at us! We are riding animatronics! All of us!" Jacob yells.

Larry walks next to me, astonished. "Every bit of boar-headed, stubborn guy you ever were." he says. I just nod, appropriate words not arriving at my mouth.

_POV – Mike_

Jac, Jas, watch your backs! Move, Eric!" I shout at the group. "Eric, break it down!" I tell Eric, who's hovering around with Bonnie.

"Okay! Heavily armored skin and a tail for bashing and crushing. Stay away from that! Small eyes, large nostrils. Relies on hearing and smelling." he analyzes.

"Okay. James, Eric, hang on its blind spot. Make some noise, keep it confused. Jac, Jas, find out if it has a shoot limit. Make it mad!" I order the group.

"That's my specialty." Jasmine says.

"Since when? Everyone knows I'm more irritating, see?" Jacob says, making irritating noises.

"Just do as I told you, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Astrid and I fly towards the burning ships with Chica.

_POV – Overview_

"Troll!"

"Butt elf!"

"Bride of Grendel!"

That's what the twins say at the dragon. In annoyance, it shoots a brief flame at them. Foxy, as nimble and quick as he is, easily dodges it.

Eric and James are on the sides of the dragon's head, banging their shields with hammers. The dragon looks directly at Eric with two other eyes.

"Um, I don't think this thing has a blind spot!" he realizes out loud.

_POV – Mike_

We fly through the smoke. Then I see him.

"There!" I shout, pointing at the forest part in the hill Goldie is in. Chica turns around and flies close enough to the ground for me to jump in. "Go help the others!" I tell Astrid.

"Alright, hold on, hold on." I tell Goldie as I use all my strength to disengage the chains that held his muzzle.

_POV – Overview _

"It's working!" James yells at Eric from the other side of the dragon's snout while banging his shield. But they both are not aware that Bonnie and Freddy are starting to get dazed by the irritating noises. Freddy loses balance on his flight for a moment and hits the dragon's snout, knocking James off him. He almost falls off the creature's muzzle. Bonnie also loses his flight, and starts spinning around.

"I'm losing power on Bonnie." Eric says. "James, do something!" he yells as he tosses James his hammer. Bonnie loses altitude and lands roughly on the ground, knocking off Eric. "I'm okay!" he yells at no one in particular. Bonnie flips back onto him. "Less okay…"

James starts to hit the Dragon's eye with his hammer.

"I can't miss! What's wrong buddy, you've got something in your eye?"

The dragon roars in anger, lifting up its foreleg right above Eric and Bonnie. Astrid flies with Chica next to him.

"Yeah, you're the man!" she yells. James gets momentarily distracted by this. That's when the metallic beast shakes its head and makes him loose balance. He holds himself to one of the horns one the sides of its snout.

_POV – Mike_

While I'm trying to get rid of the metal bars, the dragon's tail hits a tree, which almost falls on top of me. Then, its hind leg smashes a cliff, throwing us both to the water that was below us. I swim desperately towards Goldie and try my best to disengage the chains. Despite my efforts, I'm not able to. Then, everything turns black…

_POV – Jack_

I grab Mike's shirt from the back and leave him on a rock. He coughs.

"…Dad?"

I dive into the water and swim towards the animatronic. We stare at each other for some seconds. I grab the metal bars and break them easily, letting Golden Freddy free. He gets to the surface with me within a second. It lands in a rock and flicks its head towards the dragon.

"You got it, bud." Mike says, running next to him. Before he can go, I grab his arm.

"Mike! …I'm sorry. F- for everything…" I apologize.

"Yeah, me too." he apologizes back.

"You don't have to go up there." I say, worriedly. Mike smiles.

"We work at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. It's an occupational hazard."

I grab his arm with both of my hands. "I'm proud, to call you my son." I say, now letting his arm go. He looks at me.

"Thanks dad."

Mike holds up to Golden Freddy's back and takes control of the fake side fin.

_POV – Overview_

"He's up!" Astrid yells as she sees Mike and Goldie shoot up to the sky. "Get Mike out of there!"

"I'm on it!" Jacob and Jasmine say simultaneously.

"I'm on it first!"

"I'm ahead of you!"

They start arguing. James starts making his way above the mechanical dragon's snout, and jumps towards Foxy and the arguing twins. Foxy grabs him with his hook.

"I can't believe that worked!" Jacob shouts.

_POV – Astrid_

We fly towards the rest, when I notice that Chica is not flying forward anymore. The dragon takes a deep intake of breath, pulling us both towards its open mouth. Chica flies as fast as she can, but it's not enough. Suddenly, I hear that subsonic whine. A burning rock hits the creature right on the mouth, knocking me off Chica.

When I'm pretty much close to the ground, something grabs me by the legs. Goldie.

"Did you get her?" Mike asks.

Goldie looks down at me. I smile, and he smiles back. He flips me around and puts me down in the ground.

"Go…" I mutter, worried about them both.

_POV – Mike_

"That thing has wings…" I realize out loud. "Well, let's see if it can sue them!"

Goldie turns around. We fly down at an outstanding speed, his side fins making that subsonic whine. I brought with me ten 'exploding rocks', as I decided to name my latest invention. I throw one at the dragon's body, making it fall by the force of the impact.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 13: Ending**

"You think that did it?" I ask as I look at behind, to see the dragon flying towards us. Its wings are made with strong leather, like Goldie's fins.

"Well it can fly." I tell Goldie, who gives me a 'no, really?' mannered snort.

We fly towards a maze of sea rocks, like that one we almost die on when I was learning to control the prosthetic fin. The dragon destroys them like if they were made of simple twigs, and doesn't get damaged by them. I thought it would at least get dented. We'll have to try something different. I look up at the clouds. They're all over the sky and are black. An idea comes to my head.

Goldie, thanks to his speed and airborne maneuvers, can camouflage with a dark sky. If the dragon can't see us, it can't attack us. We, the contrary way, can do both things.

"Alright Goldie. Time to disappear." I say. Goldie seems to nod and, with my help, flies towards the dark sky with the dragon right behind us. As we get closer to the clouds, I hear the sound of gas. The mechanic dragon is about to breathe its unexplainable fire.

"Here it comes!" I warn Goldie, who quickly dodges the blast. The dragon spins around as we enter the sea of black clouds, and stirs the fire and smoke with its wings. The dragon tries to bite us, but we were already gone. It is unable to find us now. It looks all around; it can't see us, but we can see it. From the basket I carry, I grab two 'exploding rocks' and throw them at the dragon right on the wings. It spins around, but we surround it. I hit the dragon once again, always having in mind how many rocks I used. I do this repeated times, illuminating the sky with a blue-white light. The dragon suddenly roars in anger, and starts breathing fire all over like it's crazy.

"Watch out!" I warn Goldie, trying my best to help him dodge the gigantic flames. But for my horror, the prosthetic fin sets on fire. "Alright, time's out. Let's see if this works."

Goldie spins around and dives towards the dragon.

"Come on! Is that the best you can do?!" I shout at it, Goldie following the yell with a raspy and angered roar. As we fly past the dragon's snout, it tries to snap at us, but its too slow. We then start the fastest dive we've ever performed, falling at an outstanding speed, but with the metallic dragon still _right _behind us. I can notice Goldie is starting to get scared.

"Stay with me buddy, work good, just a little bit longer." I tell him, noticing that I can barely control the fake fin now. I hear the gas forming on the dragon's mouth. I close my eyes, and listen carefully to it.

"Hold, Goldie…"

Then, I hear it becoming louder. Its now or never. There's no second chance.

"Now!" I shout with all my might. Goldie violently turns around, almost unable to because of the wind's force against us. I throw the last 'exploding rock' at the metal beast's open mouth and it starts burning on the inside. Goldie starts trying his best to turn around. When the dragon sees the ground, it tries to stop, but it can't. The rocks I threw at its wings are making their desired effect; the leather starts ripping apart.

The dive is way too fast for the creature, but not for us. When we're about to reach the ground, Goldie spreads his fins and we fly above the animal's long back. It crashes on the ground, making a terrifying explosion. We escape the blast, which is almost faster than us. I try to maneuver with the fin to get out of there, but it disengages because of the fire melting the metal clips that attached them to Goldie's body. He stops in mid air, and in front of the dragon's tail mace.

_That's coming directly at us._

"No…" I mutter, while Goldie tries his best to get away from it, even if he hasn't got control of his flight. The tail gets closer and closer. "No!"

Then, it hits us, and everything turns black, once more. Before my vision blacks out, I see a desperate Goldie trying to reach out for me.

_POV – Jack_

I can't see a thing. There's only smoke and ashes around me. I look all over the beach, in search of Mike.

"Mike!" I yell, expecting to hear his voice from somewhere. "Mike! Son!"

Then, I see it. The animatronic laying there, unmoving.

"Mike…" I mutter, expecting the worst. I run towards the golden bear. But there are no signals of Mike. It's only the animatronic, with burn marks all over and various burned and bended wires coming out of its body, where the fin Mike made was placed. The other is up, covering its midsection.

"Oh son…" I whisper, falling down my knees, my head completely hanging. "I did this…"

I hear the men walking towards us.

_POV – Astrid_

I make my way through the crowd, just to see Jack kneeling and Goldie lying on the ground. I gasp, feeling totally hopeless for the first time in my life. Everyone lower their heads, even the animatronics. I can't hold back my tears.

_POV – Jack_

I look with desperation at the animatronic who tried its best to save my son. It slowly opens its black eyes, and white pupils look at me sorrowfully. I keep on looking at it. It does the same.

"I'm so… I'm so sorry…" I whisper, in the verge of tears. Golden Freddy's eyes slightly widen, and he carefully puts down the fin, revealing-

"Mike!" I yell, scooping him up. He's limp, scorched, but I still have living hope. I press my ear to his chest. "He's alive… You brought him back alive!" I yell, almost crying, but this time with happiness.

_POV – Astrid_

I'm about to scream with pure joy. Mike is alive! Everyone is celebrating now, I even see James crying. Even the animatronics celebrate. I knew Goldie would save Mike. He would do _anything _for him. Because Mike was the only one who trusted him. Mike was the only one who saved him. The only one who helped him. It is the strongest friendship I've seen in my life.

_POV – Jack_

"Thank you, for saving my son." I tell the animatronic as I gently put my hand on the side of its head. It simply smiles and lowers its head with a low and happy grunt. Larry then walks next to me and examines Mike.

"Well, you know… Most of him…" he says.

_POV – Mike_

The first thing I realize is that I'm in pain. The second is that I'm on a bed. I slowly open my eyes, and see Goldie next to me, smiling with happiness.

"Hey Goldie." I mutter. He starts to circle around and give me gentle prods with his head. "Yeah, I'm happy to see you too bud, now just- OW!" Goldie accidentally pressed his paw against my belly trying to get me off the bed. I exasperatedly bolt to a sitting position.

"What? Uh…" I say, totally confused. "I'm in my cottage…" I turn my gaze towards Goldie. "Umm, you're in my cottage…!"

He starts to run around, knocking off some things.

"Does dad know you're here?" I ask. Goldie walks closer to me. "Oh, okay, okay…"

He turns around and jumps onto a rafter. "No, no." I say, trying to make him stop. "Goldie!"

Goldie stops and looks at me. "Oh, come on-" I stutter, when something stops me. I feel something weird on my left leg. Something I can't put in place. I pull away the bed sheet, which reveals…

Something that makes me fall in horror. Goldie comes down the rafter and looks expectantly at me. I look at him, then at the floor, and sigh.

I step with my boot on the ground. Then, I step with my… iron prosthetic leg, which Goldie examines before looking back at me. He snorts softly, and I sigh. I slowly get up and try to walk, but this fake leg hurts more than what I imagined. I sigh again, and try to walk once more. This time I almost fall if it wasn't for Goldie, who helps me stand.

"Thanks, bud." I mutter, as we start walking towards the door. I slowly open it, and Freddy is there to greet me. I slam the door shut.

"Goldie, stay here." I tell Goldie and open the door again. I see James with Freddy, who now I notice has one of the jetpacks we used. They both fly away, followed by the other guys, all riding the animatronics.

"What…?" is all I manage to say when I see all of them flying and playing around in peace. Nobody cares, they just wave happily at them and laugh.

"I knew it. I'm dead" I say, unable to believe the scene before me.

"No, but you gave it your best shot." Dad says from behind me, wrapping his arm around me. "So, what do you think?"

I don't reply. No, not that. I _can't _reply. It's just like yesterday we hated the animatronics and now they live peacefully with us. Suddenly, various employees walk over me, greeting and clapping at me.

"Turns out all we needed was a little bit more of… this." Jack says, pointing at me.

"You just gestured to all of me." I say, but not annoyed this time. Dad nods with a smile.

"Well, most of you." Larry says as he approaches us and points at the fake leg. "That's a bit of my handiwork. With a little Mike flair thrown in. You think it'll do?"

I examine the prosthetic leg. "I might make a few tweaks." I say. Everyone around me starts laughing. Then, I feel a fist on my shoulder.

"_That's_, for scaring me." Astrid says, smiling.

"What, is it always gonna be this way? 'Cause I-"

Astrid grabs the front of my shirt and kisses me full on the mouth. I stay speechless for some seconds.

"-could get used to it…"

Astrid smiles again.

"Welcome home." Larry says, handling me a prosthetic fin, crimson in color and with a white skull design in the center.

"Golden Freddy!" someone shouts, making me look back at the cottage I was in. Unable to contain his joy, Goldie runs towards me, dispersing the crowd and examining happily the new fin. Dad, Larry, Astrid and me giggle.

* * *

I put the fin in position meanwhile Astrid gets next to us with Chica.

"You ready?" I ask Goldie. He snorts. Before starting our flight, I look around, knowing that I'm the responsible of this _great _change.

"**This, is ****Freddy Fazbear's Pizza****. It snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three".**

Astrid and I shoot to the sky and start going all around the restaurant's surroundings.

"**Anything that grows here is tough and tasteless".**

We fly right next to a man drinking from a mug. In surprise, he chokes on the beverage.

"**The people that work here are even more so".**

We fly towards the forest. "Yeah!" I yell.

"**The only upsides are the pets."**

We fly across a bridge. Goldie lands and runs through it for some seconds, then follows Astrid. Eric, awkwardly riding Bonnie, soon follows us.

"**While other places have parrots, or ponies…"**

The twins and James, with their respective animatronics, follow us.

"**We have…"**

We all fly straightly forming a V in the sky. Goldie and I break the formation and head right towards the clouds.

"**Animatronics!"**

* * *

**A/N**

**And with this, I put an end to this story. It got weird in some points, but I had to think of something. But hey, this story didn't end completely. Both HTTYD 2 and FNaF 2 are out. Know what that means? No? Well then, I'll tell you: I'm making the sequel to this story! So stay tunned, because I really want to write the HTTYD 2/FNaF 2 fanfic!**


End file.
